So, yeah. I started another story right after I made another one. But this plot bunny interfered with my other one, and I had to get this out of the way. Well, the first few chapters anyway. This will be a very long story. I have my work cut out for me. Well, I hope you enjoy!

I don't own One Piece.

"Aaaaaaaacccceeee! Saaaaaaaboooo! I'm hungry!"

"Shut up or you'll scare the fish away!"

"I told you two that we didn't pack enough food when we left." Sabo sighed deeply.

The trio of brothers had been sailing in a dingy for about a week now. They originally were going to wait until they were seventeen to leave, but Sabo's father had found him and taken him away from his brothers with the threat of killing them if he didn't comply.

Meanwhile the nobles in Goa Kingdom had hired Bluejam and his crew to set fire to the Gray Terminal in preparation for the Celestial Dragon arriving the next day. Sabo was horrified that the nobles would sink so low. They were worse than Bluejam in his opinion. Sabo quickly escaped his prison that he once called home and made a mad dash for the Gray Terminal.

He managed to get there before the gates were closed for the night, and set out to find his brothers and warn them. When he found them they were tied up inside Bluejam's old ship. Ace and Luffy were happily relieved to see him again. Luffy hugged him tightly when Sabo untied them, and refused to let go for several minutes, all the while crying his eyes out.

With both brothers safe at his side, Sabo led them to the edge of the forest. They had just made it to the tree line when the first explosion happened. They were frozen in horror as the flames quickly consumed the large trash heap. The screams of those being burned alive started to dwindle by the time Ace snapped out of it and dragged Sabo and Luffy further into the forest.

They quickly decided that it was no longer safe to live in Goa anymore and stole a dingy to set sail on. They packed as much food they could while being rushed to leave. The longer they stayed the more likely they would be caught. They didn't want to risk that so they set off at noon the next day on the opposite side of the island the Celestial Dragon would be arriving at. The food was all gone before the sun set. They had fed themselves by using their pipes as fishing rods. But even that wasn't really enough.

"Did you want to be caught again? We had to leave as soon as possible!" Ace yelled.

"I know, but did you think that sailing off with little to no food was really a good idea?" Sabo scolded.

"We're managing! And we should be arriving at an island soon, right? We'll just stock up when we get there."

"Island! Where?!" Luffy jumped around the small boat looking for an island that was nowhere to be seen.

"Stop it, Luffy! You're rocking the boat!" Ace hit Luffy over the head to get him to stop. It didn't really hurt him since he was made of rubber.

"Shishishishishishi! Sorry!" Luffy said with his bright smile.

"We won't get to the island for another day, Ace. And the fish we've caught hasn't really filled us up at all. If we weren't arriving at an island soon we would more than likely starve." Sabo tried to get the seriousness of the situation through Ace's thick skull.

"But we aren't going to starve, and we are arriving at an island. It all worked out. Right, Luffy?" Ace turned to the youngest of the group.

"Right!" Luffy cheered.

"Ugh! You two are hopeless." Sabo face palmed before turning back to his fishing.

"Shishishishi! Hey, what do you think our first island adventure is going to be like?" Luffy asked grabbing his make-shift fishing pole.

"Do you think the animals there will be as big as the ones back on Dawn Island?" Ace's eyes sparked with excitement.

"I doubt it. We're heading to Conomi Island. I heard it's pretty peaceful there." Sabo said.

"Awwwwww!" both Ace and Luffy deflated at the idea of their first island being a boring one.

"There's a village there that has the best tangerine orchard in all of the East Blue." Sabo said hoping that the prospect of food would raise their spirits.

"What are ta… tanji… tan…"

"Tangerines?" Sabo asked

"Yeah! What are those?" Luffy asked.

"They're small oranges, and the ones in Cocoyasi Village are the best." Sabo said with a smile.

"Ooooh! I wanna try the tiny oranges! When are we getting there?!" Luffy had stars in his eyes.

"Tomorrow, now get back to fishing or we won't have anything to eat today!" Ace scolded Luffy.

"Okay!" Luffy went back to fishing and everything lapsed into a comfortable silence.

XxXxXxXxX

"I can handle this by myself. I didn't need you to come with me." Thatch sighed and sat at the table on the small ship they were using.

Not long ago they got word from Jinbei that Arlong was recently freed, and was heading toward the East Blue. Whitebeard would normally just let it slide without further thought, but Jinbei requested that one of the division commanders followed him to make sure he didn't cause trouble. When asked why he didn't go, he simply said that he was needed at Marine Headquarters for some odd reason. Whitebeard accepted and sent Thatch with orders to track Arlong, and to stop him if he caused trouble. Thatch was just fine on his own, but the entire crew decided that Marco should tag along.

"The last time you went by yourself to one of the blues you took a personal vacation and weren't seen for three months!" Marco chided.

"Just because I milked my small vacation a little-"

"Small?! Little?! You call three months small?! The whole crew was worried sick about you!"

"Okay, I'll admit that time got away from me, but you would enjoy being away from all that paperwork for three months too."

"But you had a large pile of it when you came back."

"Yeah, but I wasn't going to take a vacation this time. Pops was really angry when I did it last time."

"As he should be. You can't just go on vacations whenever you wish!"

"I know that now! And, like I said, I wasn't going to do that this time!" Thatch smacked the table with his hands for emphasis.

Marco gave him a dry look, as if to say, "Yeah, right."

"I wasn't!" Thatch insisted.

Marco sighed and said, "Fine."

Thatch relaxed some. He knew he wasn't completely off the hook, but the subject was dropped for now. And that was good enough for him. He really wasn't going to go on vacation this time. Everyone was pissed off when he returned after last time. He didn't want that to happen ever again.

"Where is Arlong headed to anyways?" Marco asked changing the subject.

"He seems to be heading to Conomi Island."

"Why would he go to such a peaceful island like that? In the East Blue no less." Marco rubbed his chin in thought.

"I hope he won't cause trouble, but Jinbei said he has a huge hatred towards humans."

"You're saying he's going to terrorize and possibly kill the people there." Marco said what Thatch didn't want to say. Thatch only nodded in response.

"If that's the case, then it's a good thing we're here. We can stop him before he kills anyone." Marco said as he stood up and walked out the door. Thatch followed.

"How much longer until we get there?" Marco asked as Thatch joined him on the small deck.

"We'll arrive sometime tomorrow." Thatch stared out in the direction of Arlong's ship.

They stayed far enough away to keep the fishman from identifying them easily. But they were close enough to follow. They weren't worried about him finding them out. They could handle Arlong and his group of fishmen pirates easily enough. They were sure he knew they were following him, but he was probably so overconfident that he didn't bother with them.

"I just hope we won't be too late." Marco said and leaned against the railing facing the setting sun.