Hello readers! If you have come from Sons of Beasts, then welcome to part 2. If you haven't, I suggest you read that first. It's not too long. This part, parts 2-4 are quite dark, though there is an abundance of fluff between Ace and Luffy. This one will be rated M for genocide and casual murder. Though I don't think anyone will be upset with who is killed.

Some helpful information: Luffy is around Toothless's size now, as quite some time has passed since the end of the first part. This part will have 22 chapters, I think. More detail will go into how Ace and Luffy's unique bodies work or have in common with each other. There is not much mention of things that happened in part 1, but it's still necessary for everything to make sense. When I wrote a part, I hadn't seen the Reverie arc so Mary Geious isn't described the best. Anyways, please enjoy!

Ace and Luffy stood at the cliff they'd buried Sabo at. They were finally going to depart, two years later than planned, since Luffy had not been big enough or strong enough to carry his brother long distances.

"We're off Sabo. We'll make you proud, being reckless or not. Miss you little bro," Ace said, smiling at Sabo's grave. "Promise we'll survive. We do miss you, but we don't want to see you again just yet."

Bye, Sabo. Love you, Luffy said, though not crying. Their hearts, though still scarred, had healed over, and they could think and talk about Sabo with smiles, not tears. Ace sighed, looking to Luffy beside him. Luffy was now the size of a large horse, with wingspans larger than Ace had thought they'd be. He had grown a lot in the extra two years. Now Ace was nineteen and Luffy was thirteen.

The wings were twelve feet from each side, twenty seven feet from tip to tip. Ace strapped the large backpack to his back, carrying provisions, money and some spare clothes with basic first aid. Ace climbed onto the spot between Luffy's neck and his shoulder blades where the wings started. He now looked like a true, fabled dragon. The pointed snout, slightly slanted eyes, longer and sharper canines, the tail had grown little spikes, and the frills on his neck had grown longer.

But, no matter how big Luffy got, he would always be Ace's baby brother. There was a rope tied around Luffy's thick neck so Ace could hold on. Ace looked down on the map they had strapped to the back of Luffy's neck so it didn't fly away, with the compass stuck to the neck as well. None of this hurt the dragon.

"Alright, let's go," Ace said, not able to help sounding excited. Luffy jumped off the cliff and spread his wide wings, leading them away from their home island, which held such great, and such sad memories.

The Red Line, the place they were headed first, was a long way away, and the brothers would no doubt need places to stop and sleep. Ace would not push Luffy to keep flying if he was too tired. The dragon was not Ace's pet. He was his brother, and would respect him like he should and deserved to be. They were equals.

Luffy flew at high speeds, making Ace grateful he had his waist tied to the rope around Luffy's neck. The wind made the the sturdy string holding his unique hat slap tightly against his throat. But, he had made the string keeping it together around his neck sturdy with thick mud that was dried and made into a sort of glue.

They day slowly passed, not crossing any islands yet. Luffy was able to fly through much of the night until they came across the first island, Yotsuba Island. On the map, it showed a town on the coast had a marine base on it, and though they weren't criminals yet, they didn't want to deal was potential curious marines.

So they flew around the coast and came across a little town just about the same size as Shell Town, the one with the marine base. The stores were all closed as it was in the middle of the night, so Luffy landed in a clearing deep in the forest, and Ace untied himself, and they both went to sleep. There would be no threat to them, even in their sleep. East Blue was the weakest sea, despite multiple powerhouses coming from it.

When morning came, Ace was first to wake up, which didn't surprise him. Luffy had been the one doing the flying, and though he said it didn't tire him, it was clear it did. While he was good at it and able to fly long distances, it was still tiring, and more so with Ace on his back. But he could do it. They both knew that.

When Luffy woke up, he was irritated that he had to stay in the forest because people would panic if they saw him. They might even call the marines over. Luffy knew that was the right thing to do, though he didn't like it.

Can you get me something tasty? I'm sooo hungry, Luffy said, laying back down with his arms folded underneath him like a cat.

"Sure, what do you want?" Ace asked, "We have a lot of money right now." Luffy thought for a moment.

Honey. Lots of honey! The dragon cheered. They'd found honey on multiple occasions, and Ace, being made of fire, could just scoop out the honey without being stung. But, they didn't find many, so finding the delicious food was a delicacy they both enjoyed. Ace grinned.

"You got it. See you in a bit. I'm gonna get us a shit ton of meat and some produce," Ace explained. 'Kay.

The little town was much different than the city and village on Dawn Island. Ace wondered what kind of things he'd see on their adventures. The town wasn't sparkling clean, or completely white. Not beautiful and expensive, with no dirt or anything disgusting. The streets were dirt trails, and the buildings were plain looking and simple in their shapes.

The little restaurants had stands outside and under the eaves, giving out some samples. Ace didn't take any, for he'd feel bad Luffy wouldn't. He asked for directions to the nearest market he could get food in bulk. The man asked if he was a traveler, and Ace, being the polite man he was, told the vendor he was on an adventure, and thanked him for his direction.

Thank goodness Magra had taught him manners, the only bandit who had them. The market was bigger than the other stores, and Ace got bags of different foods, getting multiple jars of honey. Ace thought the woman who owned the place and helped him find what he needed thought he was good looking; it was a bit embarrassing being ogled at. After all, he wasn't wearing a shirt and had some very defined muscles.

Being made of fire made him unable to get too hot or too cold, so wearing a shirt was pointless in his opinion.

Next, Ace went to go buy some meat and fish, holding multiple sacks of food and meat. Luffy would be able to make an ice lining around the thick bag, keeping the food in good condition, as well as the bag that would be tied around the base of his tail to keep balance instead of holding it on one leg.

When he got back to Luffy, he was still relaxing, his eyes closed. Nothing eventful happened where Ace was. Luffy woke up to the smell of food, and stood up to trot over to his brother, who sat down and laid all the food out in front of them.

Ace immediately cooked the meat, handing most of it to Luffy. He needed the food more than Ace did. Luffy was also given most of the produce, while Ace got the bread and boxed goods. He'd never had some of the food he'd chosen, and was excited to try it. They'd get to have food other than just meat!

Luffy was satisfied, and only tasted one cracker of each box. He was ecstatic about the honey, and Ace pour a whole jar of it into his mouth. Once they were both satisfied, Ace packed the rest of the non-perishables in the sack. Since Luffy had eaten almost all of the meat, he didn't need to refrigerate anything in the bag, which was thankfully pretty light.

They flew off again.

-x-

The brothers had come across a few islands, and all of them were quite boring. The first they came across after their first stop had a stipid name. Organ Island? But they stopped there for some food, though not as much as the last island. Though they had quite a bit of money, they'd need those hundreds of millions of berris for other things. Namely, pirate stuff once they started on that journey.

The next island was named after a lizard, but they just passed that one. Both were sad when they couldn't land on a floating restaurant. They would terrify the workers, or would attract the Marines that were on the Marine ship docked there. Ace wondered how busy the place was. At the sight of people eating out on a deck, Luffy's stomach rumbled and he said, Can't we stop there for a little bit? I'm hungry!

"I know, Luffy. I'm hungry, too, but we can't attract attention yet. We don't want people to know who we are after we destroy the place where the Celestial Dragons live. And we still need information about that. We have to find someone who wouldn't like them, so we're going to wait until we see the first pirate ship once we cross over the Red Line. Maybe they'll give us some food is we 'ask'," Ace said.

Luffy knew he said it like that for no one could hurt them. Ace was invincible to everything he'd been attacked with or experienced so far, and Luffy's body now unconsciously and automatically protected any part of him in danger with his hardened ice.

If someone shot him, the place that bullet would land was automatically protected by the ice to stop it. Ace thought it was the most amazing part of all of his ice powers.

They stopped at a place right before the Red Line, called Loguetown. It had a lot of food and provisions since it was very close to the Red Line. It had taken weeks to get to this town. Many of those nights and days were with little food, since there weren't many big sea creatures outside of the Grand Line to catch, and there were stretches of time where neither slept.

When they did reach an island, they stayed there for a couple days, resting and relaxing. Ace would massage Luffy's stiff and sore wings, feeling bad for him. Luffy was tired of flying long distances at a time, but knew he'd have to get used to it. What kind of dragon can't fly long distances?

Luffy stopped at the edge of town, and hid behind the side of a building while Ace quickly left to buy some food. Luffy was tired, and took a nap, putting up an ice barrier so no one would see him directly. Some might be interested in the sudden wall, but he made it high enough so no one could climb over.

He had sad dreams. Dreams of Sabo on their journey together. How he'd navigate the ship, since Ace and Luffy would no doubt get lost on a ship by themselves. How he'd write books about their adventures, and finally be free of his past. Would be so happy, living out his dream with his treasured brothers. They had been so close to freedom. And then that damn Celestial Dragon ruined it. He'd pay. They all would.

Luffy woke up when Ace came back, melting a doorway for himself through the ice, gently waking the dragon. He'd gotten a good half-hour of sleep. He wished he could get more. He kept having to motivate himself, and Ace motivate him as well, to push through the tiredness and hunger so they could finally avenge Sabo's cruel murder.

-x-

Passing the Red Line could be described as a nightmare. It was freezing at the top, soaking wet, and had high winds. Luffy had trouble staying even and flying over it. The map was absolutely ruined, but it was a good thing they didn't need it anymore. Neither brother could see clearly, and had no idea when they were reaching the top of the high mountain.

It was loud and Ace couldn't hear Luffy and Luffy couldn't hear Ace. that's why the ability to talk to each other without speaking was so helpful. You okay?

Y-Yeah! It's hard to stay even from the wind.

I think we're almost to the top, Ace said, rubbing strong circles on Luffy's head, relaxing him slightly. Once we're over, we can take a break somewhere and then look for a pirate ship. Luffy nodded.

They both heard some sort of wailing once they finally dipped down the other side. Once they were out of the clouds, the brothers could see a massive whale. It was huge! And it was banging its head against the rock wall. Luffy landed next to its head, and Ace got up and walked a few feet away, sitting down on the rocks, resting his back against the wall. Luffy just looked at the whale curiously, and walked closer, sniffing it as if stared at him as well with one big eye. He cocked his head, having never seen a creature this big. Luffy was dwarfed by it.

It wailed at him, so Luffy wailed back. Ace watched as the two seemed to have a contest, with Luffy chuffing laughter. He sat down next to it, looking up at its scars. Poor whale. Why was it doing that? Luffy flew up and landed gently on the whale's head, making sure not to step on any scar or recent cut.

It was horrible. There were so many. Luffy wished he could talk to it and ask why it was doing this to itself. The whale moaned, not liking Luffy being where it couldn't see him. Luffy flew back down and landed next to its head again, but this time rolled onto his back and stared at it upside down.

The whale followed, though it couldn't stay like that long, and went back to being right side up. That's when they heard the sound of hinges of a door being opened and curse words coming from the top of the head. The whale suddenly lowered itself so whoever was on top of him could get down.

"Damn Laboon! Knocking me into the acid!" the man groaned, covered in some sort of liquid that smelled horrible to the dragon. When the man caught sight of Ace and Luffy he did a double take, but then seemed to accept that there was a dragon there. It surprised Ace. "Seeing new things in the Grand Line isn't so rare," he muttered and walked up to Ace. "What are you doing here kid?" he asked, though not angrily. He sounded cranky, but not hostile.

"We're exhausted from crossing over the Red Line. We both need a break," Ace said, yawning. He nor Luffy felt any hostility from this man. Luffy went back to playing with Laboon, while Ace began to nap. The old man looked at them strangely, but sat down at his relaxing table, watching them.

Laboon seemed to like this dragon, as they played together. The dragon even got Laboon to play some sort of slow tag. The dragon slowly flew around while Laboon chased it in the water. Crocus smiled at it. Laboon had never played with any other animal like this. Of course, Laboon was huge, and up against a wall, so there weren't many creatures that came this way. He looked to the other, seeing the young man sleeping away, snoring slightly with his orange cowboy hat resting over his eyes.

What an interesting duo.

Eventually, the dragon got tired, and laid down next to Laboon, blinking heavy lidded eyes. Then, the creature fell to sleep easily, slightly curled up. Laboon looked at it, and didn't bang his head against the wall. He just swam backwards a bit and waited out in the water for the dragon to wake up.

Crocus noticed the small bag that the young man, not any older than his late teens, next to him and also tied to his belt loop. Was that all he had? One a journey to the Grand Line? What a foolish kid. He also didn't have a log pose on his wrist, which made Crocus believe he didn't know much about how things worked in Paradise. He should have bought one at Loguetown.

It was a couple hours of Crocus patiently waiting and reading that the man woke up, looking over to see the dragon still sleeping. Ace looked to Crocus, and his stomach rumbled loudly, seeing the food the man had out.

"You hungry, kid?" the man asked. Ace nodded and hurried over. Luffy heard the word hungry in his sleep and woke up, running over to stand with Ace. "Very hungry," Ace said.

"Help yourself. What's your name?" Ace stuffed his face with the food, forgetting his manners in the presence of food he'd been starving for.

"I'm Ace, this is Luffy," Ace said after swallowing. He turned to Luffy and asked what he wanted from the table, since it was a small table and Luffy would probably knock things off if he tried to pick it up with his teeth.

The purple fish and green thing.

Ace reached for what Luffy had asked for, letting Luffy eat it from his hand as Ace continued to stuff his face. Crocus looked at him in surprise. "You can speak to him?" he asked in curiosity. "And my name is Crocus," the man added.

"Yeah, we talk in our heads," Ace said, having a feeling that it was safe to tell this man. "He's my brother, so it's natural," Ace explained simply.

"Fascinating. Where did you come from?" Crocus asked.

"East Blue, Dawn Island. Flew here from there. Took a couple weeks," Ace said, and too soon he and Luffy had eaten all the food. "Thank you, sir." Ace then bowed his head in thanks. Luffy looked to Ace and did the same thing.

"Anyone Laboon befriends is a good person - or animal - in my book. So, where are you heading?" Ace's expression turned serious.

"I have to ask you a question before I tell you," the teen said with a straight face. Luffy stared at Crocus as well, knowing what Ace would ask. Crocus nodded, wondering what the question was. "What do you think of the Celestial Dragons?"

The old man scowled. "Why are you bringing those bastards up?" Ace smiled, looking satisfied.

"Sorry, couldn't reveal our plan if you were someone to alert them. We're on our way to kill all of them. They killed someone very important to us, and we can't continue living if we don't avenge him," Ace explained to a shocked Crocus. "I know what you're gonna say: it's impossible, but we can do it. First of all, Luffy's a damn dragon, and I have the fire devil fruit."

Crocus looked at them with a calculating look. "You know, it's crazy, but I get a feeling you two could do it." He grinned. "I look forward to hearing about your success in the paper." Ace smiled back.

"Thank you. You wouldn't by any chance have a compass, would you?" Ace questioned as he pulled theirs out of his pocket.

Whoa, what's wrong with it? Luffy asked in alarm. It was spinning in circles, the glass cracked as well. It was useless now.

"I don't know," Ace replied, Crocus assuming he was speaking to the dragon.

"Do you have any clue about how the Grand Line works," Crocus asked in slight disbelief.

"Well, we know nothing makes sense here. Shouldn't be surprised, really, that the compass doesn't work. Do you know where we can buy one for this sea?" Ace asked pleasantly.

"Well, you'd need a compass to get to where you can buy one." when Ace frowned, Crocus gave a smile, and pulled a strange looking compass that had a wrist strap on it. "I'll give you this in thanks for giving Laboon a good time. It points to the next island. But, you have to go on islands in a chain, and each one will take time to set to another.

"You have a long way ahead of yourselves if your headed to the Celestial Dragons," Crocus said in a serious voice. Ace just shrugged.

"As long as we get there," he replied. Luffy nodded his head. He was glad they had to stop at islands periodically. That means he didn't have to fly all the way there and they could have breaks.

This means I get breaks, Ace! No more flying non-stop, Luffy said happily.

Ace turned to him. "Yeah, I'm happy about that, too," he said with a grin. "Thank you, Crocus. You're really helping us out, here. And the food was great and I'm glad Luffy got someone to play with."

Luffy nodded his head, giving a smile. "You're very welcome. I hope your mission works out." He handed Ace the compass and Ace strapped it around his wrist. "Better be careful with that. Not having a log pose on the Grand Line is suicide."

"Good to know. Do you mind if we stay here for tonight? It's getting darker out," Ace said politely.

"Go ahead. I don't own the Red Line. Sleep where you want."

"Thank you."

A slower start, but things will get heated soon.

Songs listened to:

Get Up! by All Good Things,

Hurricane 2.0 by 30 Seconds to Mars,

Impossible by Manafest

All of these came from AMVs for One Piece that I liked.