Introduction: Hey! Welcome to The Brother chase! I've been working on the fanfic for a while and thought it was finally about time to share it with the fanfiction community! I hope you find it to your liking. If the story seems badly written or to shortly-drawn out, then it is because:

1. I am not a native English speaker

2. I have not had time to go through everything and edit it.

I hope you will still enjoy this story though, as it does get a little crazy (hopefully not bad?) at times! :D

OxO

Disclaimer: As one knows, people who write fanfiction are not usually the people who own the material they are writing about, and I, sadly am no exception. One piece is owned by Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation, not me :(

OxO

Updates: I don't know how often I'm gonna update. If this catches enough attention, maybe I'll get a schedule? My sis is a big fan of this fanfiction, so if nothing else, I'll keep writing for her sake.

OxO

EXPLANATION; READ PLEASE:

I am going to explain the timeline in this story here, so you all know why everything is as it is:

- Teach/Blackbeard has not yet killed Thatch, even though we're at the point in time where the Straw Hats are headed to Sabaody. Let's just say that he waited longer to strike, or his plan was delayed by something.

- The crew still met Ace in Alabasta, though not because he was hunting down Blackbeard, but because of some other mission.

- Luffy currently has a bounty of 300.000.000, though is not as well known as he is in the original timeline (I need this for certain points in my story.)

OxO

Warnings: OOC!Luffy, (Childish?)!Luffy, AU, Violence, Light swearing (Hence the T rating.)

OxO

Enjoy!

The brother chase

"Guys! Guys, wake up quick!" Sounded a roaring, feminine voice. It was early morning, unusually early.

Usually, the straw hats would get up around 7, but it was only half-past 4 right now. Unusually early for anyone, especially Nami, who was the one who had yelled to be awake.

The sun was barely rising, and everyone aside from the navigator had been fast asleep.

"What is it, Nami-san?" Sounded Sanji's slightly tired voice.

"Gargh, it's too early for this," Usopp said as he yawned.

"Agreed… why did you have to wake us up, Nami-san? The sun isn't even up yet," Brook commented.

Chopper, Zoro and Franky emerged from the boys' quarters not too much later. Robin came from the girls' room a minute after all the boys had arrived.

"Wait a second, where the hell is that shitty captain?" Sanji asked, starting to sound more awake.

"Probably still asleep. You know that Luffy can sleep through anything. I'll go get him," Usopp said.

"No! He won't be there," Nami yelled, which gave the rest of the crew confused looks on their faces.

"'He won't be there?' What do you mean he won't be there, Nami?" Robin asked.

"I was thirsty and went up to get a glass of water, only to arrive in the kitchen and find THIS!" She exclaimed, holding up what looked to be a handwritten note. The crew pinched their eyes together to read the text in bad writing. Brook began reading aloud.

"Sorry, everyone! I'm gonna go somewhere for a while. Don't worry, I'll be back in a couple of days, Shishishi!"

". . ."

"HUH!?" All of the crew yelled out in unison, making the entire Sunny shake. Everyone was now wide awake.

"Go somewhere!? Where the hell would he suddenly just 'decide to go' without telling us anything about it!?" Usopp yelled.

"And look at the note… It's so short. No details about where he's going, no nothing! It's so like him, but he could've at least written something to give us a clue!" Nami yelled.

"What do we do!? We have no clue where Luffy is now!" Chopper yelled, freaking out.

"Did anyone see anything yesterday? I know some of you guys stay up till pretty late," Chopper asked.

Sanji lit the first cigarette of the day and answered.

"No, I went to bed at 12 o'clock, just like normal. The shitty captain was still here at that point," he answered.

"I was up building a little late, but not later than 1 AM. Luffy came in and looked at what I was doing, so he was still there at the point I went to sleep," Usopp said, scratching his neck.

"Same goes for me," Franky added.

"Nami and I went to bed at the same time, 11 PM. Obviously, Luffy was still here at that point," Robin said. Nami nodded in the background.

"I went to bed at 12 o'clock as well, Yohohoho," Brook said quieter than usual.

"Well, that just leaves…" Nami said as the entire crew's attention turned to the green-haired swordsman.

"Zoro. You have to have seen something! You stay up until 4 AM and you spend all your time in the crow's nest, where you have a lookout of the entire Sunny!" Usopp said, hopefully.

"Well… I did see Luffy running around yesterday. Though he does that a lot, not having a fast sleep schedule and all, so I just ignored him…" Zoro said.

"You idiot! You could've seen where he went!" Nami yelled, the rest of the crew strongly agreeing.

"Well, I didn't, and that's all that matters. We don't really have much choice right now. We'll just have to wait for Luffy to return on his own, since we have no clue where he went," Zoro stated.

The rest of the crew sighed.

"For once, I agree, you moss-head," Sanji replied.

"Huh? You wanna start something, you shitty cook!?" Zoro snapped back. The two glared angrily at each other before suddenly being stopped.

Both got a smack planted nice and hard into their thick skulls by none other than the talented and beautiful Nami.

"Guys, it's way too early for this!" She exclaimed, clearly already tired of their rivalry.

"Yes, of course, Nami-san!" Sanji yelled, smoke still rising from his head.

"Well, I don't think any of us are going to get any more sleep tonight, might as well just start the day now," Brook said.

"I'll go make breakfast," Sanji said. The crew nodded and went back and did their usual morning routines.

Breakfast was fairly different without the loud-mouthed, bottomless pit that was their captain. It was quieter, more peaceful.

But in a way… also more empty feeling than usual…

The remaining straw hats could only wonder where in the world their captain could currently be at. And hope, that whatever he was running off to do, would go without him destroying half the Grand Line in the process… leaving Luffy unattended was not recommended.

Luffy

The sun was finally beginning to rise. He had left the Sunny very early this morning, though Zoro had still been awake. He could only hope the swordsman didn't know where he was going.

The tiny fisher boat was wobbly, but in some kind of way, gave him a feeling of deja vu. Being all alone on a fisher boat on his way to adventure… he hadn't felt like this ever since he set out to sea to become a pirate!

He had been selfish and had left his crew behind, he knew that…

But this was something he had to do. It didn't involve them, only two other people… one of which, he was on his way to finding.

All of a sudden, his thoughts were interrupted by a large and LOUD growl.

"Hungry…" Luffy said, patting his stomach. He would have to stop by the next island to get some food! And maybe also some info.

After all, finding the Whitebeard pirates wasn't gonna be a walk in the park. He giggled. He had to find Ace. He HAD to tell him. In-person. HIM.

Flashback:

The straw hats had docked at an island in order to stretch their legs and gather supplies again. As always, Luffy had been first to run off in order to find somewhere to eat.

As soon as he had found an inn, he had ordered and begun to empty out the entire stock of food. All surrounding people could only stare in awe, but didn't Luffy care. He never had. He was just eating!

Though all of a sudden…

A hooded man was standing next to him. He was ordering a bottle of sake, but something about him just gave Luffy a weird feeling… He couldn't tell if it was a bad feeling, but it made his stomach twist and turn and his heartbeat beat fast like it hadn't done in a while.

The man had remained silent and had done absolutely nothing. Nothing should be making him feel like this… Luffy just kept on stuffing more and more food down his throat, but he hadn't taken his eyes off the man during a single second of the time he was there.

As soon as the owner had gotten the sake bottle the man requested, the hooded guy paid and headed out the door in a hurry again.

Luffy got up as well, something he usually never did. The plate before him was only half-finished.

He never left his plates un-finished, but this weird guy just peeked Luffy's interest too much! He had to find him before he got away.

"Thanks for the food!" Luffy yelled, running out the door. He ignored the angry yells from the inn-owner and searched the crowd for the weird man.

His eyes spotted him just as he was about to run away. Luffy followed. The man was fast. But he could keep up! He wouldn't let the strange guy get away!

All of a sudden, the man took a weird turn into an alley. Luffy didn't question it and just kept following him.

But the alley was narrow and hard to maneuver through, so the man got ahead. Just as Luffy thought he had lost him, he heard a voice.

"Now, we're alone. Why have you been following me?" The voice came from behind him, and the second Luffy realized that he turned around.

"Straw hat Luffy, an infamous pirate with a bounty of 300.000.000 Beli," the man said.

He had taken his hood down. Luffy carefully studied his face.

He was blonde. His hair was a bit on the long side, and he was quite tall. What was most remarkable about his face though, would be the scar going over his left eye. Luffy couldn't help but wonder how he got it.

"Who're you? How do you know who I am? How did you get that scar?" Luffy asked in his usual clueless tone. The man looked surprised at him for a few seconds.

"You know, that's a pretty personal question," he said, his attitude obviously more relaxed.

"Well, it looks cool and I wanna know! So I asked!" Luffy said. The blonde giggled surprised.

"Wow, and here I was worried about nothing. Allow me to introduce myself," he started. Luffy listened.

"I'm the chief of staff in the revolutionary army, second in command. I'm here on a mission. I was about to head back to my Nakama before I realized you were following me, so I wanted to see what you wanted," he replied.

"Well, I had this kind of weird feeling when I saw you, so I wanted to see who you were!" Luffy exclaimed.

The blonde smiled again… why was he letting his guard down so much..? Usually, he would never be this relaxed around anyone he didn't know. This kid was making him feel naturally relaxed for some reason…

"Anyway, you didn't answer! How did you get the scar!?" Luffy asked. The man looked up at him before answering.

"I'll tell you how I got my scar if you tell me how you got yours," he said, referring to the small scar underneath his eyes.

Why was he being so childish around someone who wasn't Koala or Hack!?

"Oh, this? I cut myself with a knife, Shishishishi!" He said as he giggled.

Sabo's eyes widened in shock...This kid, Luffy- was it, didn't seem like the type to do… that. Which only left the possibility that...

"You cut yourself? Next to your eye? Accidentally?" Sabo asked confused. He hadn't met anyone that stupid in a long time.

"No, silly! On purpose! I wanted to show Shanks that I wasn't afraid of getting hurt so he would let me join his crew!" He said, smiling widely.

"Shanks? As in the Yonko Red-hair Shanks? You're a part of Red-hair Shanks' crew?" he asked, amused.

The news in the newspaper were quite different… though of course, you couldn't always trust what was written in there...

"No-no-no-no-no-no. He didn't let me join, so I decided I would make my own crew that was even stronger than his! Anyway, that's the story behind my scar. Now tell me how you got yours!" Luffy yelled, not being able to wait anymore.

He smiled, but the look in his eyes changed. He was no longer on guard, just straight up… sad… miserable, even. He brought a hand to the scar and started talking.

"I got this scar when I was 10, ergo 10 years ago. I was apparently on my way somewhere, but I can't remember where. Anyway, next thing I know, I wake up in a bed. I was burned and had been close to drowning. I… can't remember how I got it... But I know I definitely didn't have this scar before I woke up," he started.

The look on Luffy's eyes had changed as well, but instead of going from suspicious to sad, it went from careless to suspicious.

Though he didn't say a word…

The blonde continued.

"I had been found and rescued by Dragon-san, the leader of the revolutionary army. I had amnesia, and still can't remember anything from before I woke up. We were sailing right next to an island in the East Blue called Dawn Island, and they offered to take me back to my home…"

"But as soon as they said that, all the instincts in my body began telling me no. It was like, I knew I didn't wanna go home, even though I couldn't remember anything else…"

Sabo looked over at Luffy, who had gone from looking slightly suspicious to utterly and completely shocked.

"When the revolutionary army took me under their wing, I already knew how to fight… my body was just used to it. I must've been doing something that required a lot of fighting before I lost my memory, but I can't possibly imagine what a 10-year old could be doing that would be so-"

"What's your weapon?" came a sudden question from Luffy. The blonde stared at him in confusion. Unlike the other times Luffy had asked, he sounded demanding- almost desperate for him to answer. A little hesitant, the man answered.

"...A pipe," he simply said. He expected the small teen to laugh, or if anything, make fun of him. But no, he simply flinched as his expression turned more and more horrified.

"Do… did you wear a stupid top-hat with goggles that you never use- ehm.. used?"

"Wha- STUPID!? My hat is not stupid! And yes, I do indeed, but it is not stupid!" He yelled. How had he even know that? He seemed too clueless about him before. How did he not know who he was but that he wore a top hat with goggles?

This kid made no sense.

"What… what's your name?" He asked. There was a look of utter anticipation and horror on Luffy's face. His voice was even shaking at this point... The man was uncertain if he should answer or not… what in the world was going on with Luffy?

"I…. It's… It's Sabo," he said. And with that, Luffy's eyes immediately widened, and what looking to be tears formed in the corner of his eyes. Sabo stared shocked at him. What in the world was going on!?

"It's… It's really you! SABO!" Luffy yelled as he jumped at the unsuspecting adult. He had caught him so off guard that he managed to tackle him to the ground.

Sabo had to take a couple of seconds to process what was really happening.. Luffy was crying… on top of him...

"Sabo! I thought you died! Me and Ace.. we were all alone! You were alive, I can't believe it! I missed you so much, Sabo!" Luffy said in between sobs and grunts.

Sabo was confused, to say the least. Did they know each other...? No, definitely not. The way they had both reacted before had proven that. Then why… why was Luffy acting so strange all of a sudden?

Luffy just kept on sobbing and sobbing like there was no tomorrow. Usually, he wasn't the type to cry.. not at all. But this… this was too great to be true. Sabo was desperate. He knew it was probably stupid to ask, but he had to know.

"I… Do I know you?" He said.

Of course… as if something this good came without its price.

And with that, Luffy's eyes officially showcased that his heart had shattered. Crap, now he felt guilty. But why? Why did he feel guilty when he clearly didn't know this guy? Or did he? Was what he said really true?

Then it hit him…

Luffy's sobbing had gotten quieter, and he wasn't yelling at him anymore.

"Did… did I know you before I lost my memory?" Sabo asked, finally understanding what was going on. Luffy just silently nodded slowly.

"Mhm…" He said quietly shortly afterward.

As soon as he did, Sabo felt even guiltier than he had before. From what he had heard, he had clearly left Luffy and whoever 'Ace' was to think that he had died on the day of the accident.. but… he couldn't remember any of them...

"Luffy... I-I'm sorry that you think I died all those years ago. But I lost my memory, and I still haven't gotten it back… I'm sorry, but I don't remember who you or Ace is...but," he stated.

Luffy was clearly heartbroken at this, but he was listening to what he was saying.

"I'm...I'm sure we were really close, right? You, me and Ace?" He asked. Luffy nodded again at this.

"Ace was… probably also as sad as you are about me, isn't he?" Sabo asked. Luffy nodded once again.

This situation had started to become a little awkward.

Luffy had seemed to happy when I had found out he was alive… guilt was building up inside Sabo since he had very clearly hurt the young boy when he had told him about his amnesia.

"Luffy, please, I... I don't want you to feel guilty anymore. You have to find him and tell him that I'm alive too. I won't be able to live with myself if I know I left an unhealed scar on someone's heart," Sabo said, quietly, yet firmly.

Luffy looked at him with a look of sadness, before once again being determined.

"Yeah… yeah, you're right… Ace should know too," Luffy said. Sabo nodded.

"I've tried my hardest to get my memory back for years, but maybe our encounter today will help me remember something… I'll try my hardest, try my hardest to remember you and Ace, okay?"

Luffy nodded again, though this time more firmly.

"Great… now… Do you think you could get off of me?" Sabo asked, trying to sound as polite as possible. Luffy nodded, grinning again as he stood up.

"I'm gonna find Ace and tell him you're alive, that's a promise!" Luffy said, looking the blonde into the eyes.

"Be sure too. I promise you too Luffy, I'll try my hardest," Sabo said, sounding determined. Luffy nodded, understanding that he was dead serious.

"Luffy! Where are you!? We have to go, NOW! Zoro got himself into trouble because of his sense of direction again!" Sounded the voice that Luffy recognized as Nami.

"Shishishi! I've gotta go now, my Nakama are looking for me!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Mhm. Take care, Luffy," Sabo said, happy for some strange reason.

Luffy started running towards the exit of the alley. Sabo was just about to turn around and leave as well when he heard Luffy's voice call out again.

"Oh, one more thing! Sabo, you were always the nicer brother, Shishishi!" Luffy yelled.

At this, Sabo found himself to be stunned. Brother? They were siblings?

"Lu-!" But it was already too late. The short-haired teenager had already sprinted away. Sabo sighed heavily. Great. Now he was gonna get a headache thinking over what the hell he had just said...

Luffy had re-joined up with his Nakama, hiding everything that had just happened from them. He had acted completely normal the remaining part of the day and had gone to sleep. He woke up early, wrote a note and then set out to sea.

He had a promise to keep!

The brother chase

Luffy could see it in the distance! The island he had been longing for! His stomach was growling. A lot. He was hungry. Very hungry. Being very hungry meant that he needed food. And a lot of it on top of that.

"Food, food, food!" The teenager exclaimed happily. The sun had risen completely by now, making it light enough to see the ocean and island in its full glory.

Though something on the island caught Luffy's attention.. was that…? It was! A jolly roger! That meant that this island was the territory of some other pirate. Luffy frowned. Which pirate was it?

He looked closer. He wasn't close enough to see all the details, but he could make out something… the Jolly Roger had a white banana hanging from underneath its nose… What a strange choice of Jolly Roger…

The island was getting closer and closer, and Luffy was getting impatient. He wanted food!

'Something about the banana mustache Jolly Roger feels weird, though,' Luffy thought. But he shrugged it off. He figured he would ask one of the villagers who it belonged to.

When he finally, finally arrived at the island, he stormed off into town, his eyes scouting for the nearest inn, restaurant, or anywhere where it would be possible to get food.

His eyes scouted the area, and as soon as he laid eyes upon the sign signaling that there was an inn, he stormed through town so quickly that people around were staring and holding onto their hats and glasses in order for them to not fly off in the strong wind Luffy was creating as he was running.

"FOOOD!" He yelled, bursting in through the door. People inside were staring weirdly, but he didn't care. He ran up to the counter and sat down.

"Hey there, what can I get ya, kid?" The inn owner asked.

"Food!" Luffy said. A couple of seconds of silence passed by. The owner raised an eyebrow at him.

"...Please!" He added, remembering Ace's, Sabo's, Makino's and Sanji's lessons about table manners. The inn owner grinned widely.

"Sure thing, kid," he said walking out into the back. When the food arrived several minutes later, Luffy ate as if it was his last day alive. The food here was great too! The inn owner giggled.

"You sure have one hell of an appetite," he stated.

"Well, yeah. Grandpa taught me to eat a lot," Luffy replied. The inn owner stared in amazement, wondering what he had meant by that. He just kept on scarfing more and more food down his throat, it was honestly getting impressive at this point.

The kitchen staff was having a hard time keeping up, and Luffy wasn't even going full speed.

"So, you're not from around here, are you, kid?" He asked.

"I'm not a kid. My name's Luffy. I'm 17. And yeah, you're right, I'm not," He simply said, not stopping a single second to chew, or even talk without the mouth full of food.

17? The brat didn't look a day older than 15. Was he lying about his age or being honest? Either way, what was a brat like him doing here all the way here, on an island that was not his own, all alone?

"Old man? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Old man? I'm only 57, you know," the inn owner said with a cocky grin.

The inn owner grinned even wider as Luffy just ignored him and kept eating. He liked this kid for some reason. He had the feeling that he was the type with guts, the type not afraid to stand up to himself or the people he cared about. That was always nice. He took a sip of water while gathering up his thoughts on the brat.

"Oh yeah, by the way, who does the white banana mustache Jolly Roger belong to?" Luffy asked curiously. The inn owner was caught so off guard that he spit out all the water currently in his mouth and started choking.

Luffy's expression didn't change in the slightest, and he just kept stuffing more food.

"You mean… You don't know that's the flag of Whitebeard!?" The inn owner asked, surprised. Luffy's eyes widened… oh yeah, he remembered!

Back at Alabasta, the tattoo on Ace's back! It had been the exact same. That's why it seemed familiar to him! And this was great, now finding the Whitebeards wouldn't be as hard as he thought it would be!

"Wait, you mean this island is the mustache Ossan's territory!?" Luffy asked, happily.

"Whitebeard," The inn owner corrected.

"And yes, it is. I don't know how to thank him. The world government gave up on us long ago, but when he just happened to stumble upon this little, unknown island, he took care of us all and granted us protection. I don't know how to ever thank him," the inn owner said, a look of respect reflected in his eyes.

Luffy smiled as he finally stopped eating. He sighed a sigh of satisfaction, before rubbing his belly and smiling widely.

"That was delicious! Thank you, Old man!" Luffy said. He giggled as a response.

"My pleasure," he said.

"Oh yeah! About mustache Ossan, do you know where he is?" Luffy asked. The inn owner raised an eyebrow. What could a squirt like him possibly want from Whitebeard? He wasn't gonna try anything reckless or stupid now, was he? The inn owner did picture him as the type who would try to pull something like that...

"Yes, in fact, I do. What could you possibly want with Whitebeard, ki-Luffy," the inn owner corrected.

Luffy looked up at the inn owner, before smiling with calm eyes.

"Well, because I've gotta tell 'em something important," Luffy said, still grinning widely.

"Oh, and what might that be?" He asked curiously. The moment he did, Luffy's eyes softened. He got calmer, happier. Did he already know Whitebeard? He must've. There was no other way his expression would look like that when mentioning one of the world's most feared men's names.

"Well, you know Ace, right?" Luffy said, interrupting the inn owner's thoughts.

"Fire-fist? The commander of the second division? Sure, I know him. He's a real gentleman, I tell you," he said smiling. Luffy nodded agreeing.

"What about him?" The inn owner asked, looking at Luffy in anticipation.

Luffy took a deep breath before answering.

"Well he's kind of my brother and I need to find him in order to let him know that this other brother we have that we thought died is alive and it's really important," Luffy said not stopping a second to catch his breath.

The inn owner blinked in surprise. He hadn't caught everything he had just said, but a couple of keywords… Brother, find him, let him know, other brother, died, alive, really important.

A second later he burst out laughing. A couple of seconds passed before he stopped, and Luffy only glared at him innocently.

"Wow, didn't expect that one, kid," he said.

"Luffy," Luffy corrected.

"Right, right. Anyway, if you're the brother of Ace, I'd be more than happy to tell you where Whitebeard is currently at," the inn owner said.

Now that he looked more closely, he did see a resemblance. And that would explain the massive appetite as well. He could only hope that Luffy wouldn't fall asleep in the middle of their conversation like Ace had after he was done eating.

Luffy's smile widened even further, something usually not possible. He grinned, clearly very happy.

"Thanks, Old man!" Luffy said. The inn owner went into the back and came back not too much later with a map.

"You see here? 3 days ago, that's where they were sailing. But I'm assuming that they're running out of supplies. That would mean that they would travel to the nearest island, which would be… there!" He said, pointing to an island on the map, and marking it with a large 'X'.

"Thank you, Old man! You're really smart," Luffy said, praising him. Luffy rolled the map together and stuck it into his shirt. He looked at the inn owner and then at stacks of dishes that had built up over the last 30 minutes.

"How much?" He asked. Once again, the inn owner blinked before breaking into a wide grin.

"It's on the house. Any friend, or brother for that sake, of Ace, can eat free here any time!" He said, smiling.

"Really!? Thanks, Old man!" Luffy said, heading towards the exit.

"It was nice meeting ya!"

"Likewise!"

And with that, Luffy stormed out of the inn and back down towards his boat. This was great news, now he knew where to look!

"Shishishishi.." Luffy giggled quietly. He was full, had the information he needed, and was ready to set sail if everything was going to go this smoothly, this was gonna be a breeze.

"Ah! Now, what am I gonna do!?" It was exactly 5 seconds after Luffy had thought the thought of this being easy that he realized a fatal mistake. He didn't have a single clue about how to navigate a ship.

How the heck was he supposed to get the island!? Partially panicking, Luffy began looking around for an alternative. If he couldn't navigate, maybe he could find someone else who could?

He scouted the port for potential people before he spotted a cool looking lady standing next to a submarine. Yes! She was perfect!

"Lady! Hey, lady!" He called out. It seemed to take a couple of yells before she realized that he was calling out to her. Luffy approached her and instantly got met with a serious glare.

"What do you want, kid? I'm busy."

"Please, can you take me to an island in your submarine?" Luffy asked. The lady looked stunned at him before answering.

"What are you, 4? No, I'm not just going to take some random boy, who I don't know, to an island in MY submarine," she said.

"But I asked nicely!" Luffy exclaimed, not understanding how asking nicely didn't work.

"Yes, and because you did that, I won't yell at you to go scram, I'll just ask you to leave nicely. Then we're even," she replied. Luffy's face grimaced, and he began sulking.

"Oh, c'mon it's just a little trip! It's not gonna hurt ya!" He exclaimed.

"I said NO, kid. Besides, do you even have any idea where you're going?"

"Yes, I do," Luffy said pulling out the map from his pocket. The woman looked in surprise, obviously not expecting him to actually have a destination.

"Hmph," she forcefully took the map from Luffy's hand and looked it over carefully.

"Hey-!" Luffy was about to protest but decided to keep his mouth shut as the expression on the woman's face changed.

"...Well, lucky you, I guess. The island you're heading too is on the way to where I'm headed," she said, obviously annoyed.

Luffy's face lit up.

"Does that mean-!?"

"Hop in, kid," She said, opening the steel door that led into the submarine.

"Yahoo! Thanks, Lady! Oh, and my name's not kid, It's Luffy."

"Same goes for me. The name's Anna, not lady," she said. Luffy just nodded before heading inside the steel door. Anna followed shortly after and closed the door behind her. She went to the control room, Luffy following curiously behind her, and sat down in a chair.

"Whoa, there are so many buttons! How do you know which ones to press?" Luffy exclaimed.

"Cause I'm the captain, idiot. Sheesh, an annoying kid, and an idiot? What the hell did I agree to?" She said, clearly not caring that Luffy could hear her.

Luffy didn't care though and decided that he would run off and explore the submarine on his own. It was surprisingly big, easily being able to fit more than 30 people. 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a storage room, and a control room. Even claustrophobic people would be able to manage down here.

Luffy went to take a look around Anna's room, and his eyes widened as soon as he did. The room was packed to the brim with books and herbs. Luffy went in to get a closer look and let the door stay open behind her.

Anna's room looked more like Chopper's office than an actual bedroom. Was she a doctor? That would explain the many books and herbs. Luffy danced around the room carefully, wanting to see what was in the closet at the end of the room.

It was a little messy, so Luffy was careful not to step on anything on the floor.

Once he reached the closet, he opened the door and glanced at its content. It was filled with… he took one of them up into his hand. A bra? He picked up another one. A pair of underwear. Boring, this was just the place she kept her underwear.

Just as Luffy was about to throw the inanimate objects onto the floor and head outside again, something grabbed him by the arm. TIGHT.

"OW, OW, OW, OW, that hurts!" Luffy yelled, looked at the person who was strangling him. He was met by Anna's very flushed and very furious face.

Damn, this girls' grip hurt just as much as Nami's punches! It was in that exact moment that Luffy realized he might have screwed up a little.

"What the hell, you pervert?! I let you onto my submarine, something I normally never, do, and the first thing you do is go to my room and look at my UNDERWEAR!?" She yelled tightening her grip, making Luffy's face flinch in pain.

"OW! What's the big deal!? It's just underwear, isn't it!?"

"Just underwear? JUST UNDERWEAR!?" Anna's face flushed even redder, and she quicker than Luffy could realize, grabbed him, and more easily than it should've been, forcefully threw him into the wall, making the incredibly thick metal bend and form a sphere where he had landed.

Now that hurt.

"You! Luffy-kid. You BETTER behave on the rest of this trip, or I WON'T HESITATE to throw you overboard and STRAIGHT INTO THE OCEAN. YOU GOT THAT!?" She yelled. Luffy gulped. This lady was even scarier than Nami!

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"Ma'am!? I'm only 42, you know!" Anna replied. Luffy's eyes widened. 42!? She looked 21!

"42!? But that means… that you're… Old!" Luffy said… bad idea… a murderous aura appeared to be forming around Anna. Luffy gulped even louder this time. He was seriously starting to worry about his own safety here… curse him and his always honest mouth!

"What… did...you… say…. YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BRAT!?" Anna yelled, as she grabbed Luffy's arm and tossed him over his shoulder, straight into the hard metal floor. She jumped on him before Luffy had the chance to recover, and grabbed his arm and twisted it in a way that hurt.

Twisting his arm shouldn't hurt. He was made of rubber for God's sake! This lady was seriously something...

"Now, are you sorry for calling me old, Luffy!?"

"Y-yes! OW! OW! OW! OW! Let me go please!" The grip around his arm tightened, making the pain even worse.

"NOT YET, YOU LITTLE BRAT! Are you sorry for sneaking around my room and stealing my underwear!?" She said. Luffy didn't even have to hesitate before answering.

"Y-YES!"

"GOOD, then go to the other room and don't come out before I make you. GOT THAT!?" She said, once again tightening the grip around Luffy's arm.

"I do, I do! JUST LET GO, PLEASE!" Luffy begged. Anna did so, and as soon as she did, Luffy stormed out the room and into the other bedroom and closed the door.

Anna basically had Luffy locked up in the bedroom for the rest of the day, as his 'punishment' for everything he had done. Luffy didn't dare do otherwise.

Anna was scary. And strong. Monstrously strong. Luffy's limbs still ached from the beating she had given him. The first 5 hours, she had basically been too angry to even dare walk close to the door to the room Luffy was in.

In comparison to Anna's room, Luffy's was more cramped. There wasn't really anything in there aside from the bed, an empty desk and an empty closet. No windows. Had he been claustrophobic, then he wasn't sure how he would handle being here.

Luckily, he wasn't. Though sitting around was boring, so at last, the rubber boy decided to just lay down and close his eyes. Minutes later, they went shut, and everything went dark.

"Luffy, hey Luffy-kid!" Sounded a voice, as well as a loud knock on the door. Luffy slowly opened his eyes and took a couple of seconds before he remembered where he was.

"Anna? That you?" Luffy yelled, still a little scared to sit up. His eyes had gotten used to the dark by now, but the light streaming in from the other side of the door irritated his eyes and made everything dark again.

"No, it's flippin' Kaido. Of course, it's me, idiot! Come out, I made dinner," sounded the voice, followed by a couple of footsteps signaling that she walking away.

Luffy shot up from the bed and out the door. His eyes were irritated by the sudden change of lighting, but he didn't care and just ran down to the dining table. He had missed 2 meals today because he had been sleeping for so long. He was hungry!

Anna was already sitting at the table, which was covered by delicious-looking food. Not as delicious as Sanji's of course, but after not having eaten for 7 hours, it looked and smelled like heaven!

"Wow, Anne! You made this?!" Luffy exclaimed, sitting down, drool dripping from his mouth.

"Why, surprised I can cook? And it's ANNA. And wipe that drool from your mouth! Do you want to be strangled again!?" Anna asked harshly. Luffy instantly listened and did as she said.

As dinner went on, the atmosphere seemed to get a little less tense. Maybe Anna had been grumpy because she was hungry? Luffy got like that sometimes too, so he totally understood!

"Hey," interrupted Anna's voice. It sounded much calmer than any of the other times she had talked to him.

"Yeah?" Luffy said with the face full of food.

"You never told me why you're going to Kaika island. You seem awfully young to be traveling all on your own," she said. Luffy swallowed all the food in his mouth before replying.

"I'm not that young, I'm 17," Luffy said, looking at the woman, who's eyes widened.

"17? You look like you're 15," she replied, which did actually offend the smaller than average boy, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Well, I'm going there, 'cause I know that's where mustache Ossa- Whitebeard, is," Luffy simply said. Anna choked on her food and looked at Luffy with wider eyes than Luffy had ever seen.

"Whitebeard!? What the hell could you possibly want from him?" Anna asked, eyes wide. This was weird. Sure, all people had a little natural fear for Whitebeard, but Anna seemed… protective? Angry? At the statement Luffy just made.

"Well, it's kinda hard to explain. Anyway, I need to get onto their ship and find Ace," Luffy said. Anna's face frowned and changed into a mix of offense and anger.

"Humph, what do you even want with a brat like him?" She asked. Luffy realized something by that sentence.

"Hold on, Anni, you know Ace!?" Luffy said as his eyes lit up with joy.

"Yes, I know that brat. And again, it's ANNA!" She said, scoffing. Luffy gulped once again as her eyes started to turn furious again, but much to his relief, she calmed down and continued to eat her rice.

"I worked there as a doctor for around a year. All pirates are the same, they're all too stubborn to admit when something hurts. Stupid idiots, all of them. "Oh, no it doesn't hurt," "I'm not injured, just a little tired!", argh! Just thinking about it is giving me headaches!" The woman said, rubbing the bridge between her eyes.

"Anyways, Whitebeard thought it would be a good idea to bring that Ace-brat on board. Ever since he did, there was nothing but trouble. He tried to kill the captain every single damn day for a hundred days straight."

"He got more and more hurt after each attempt, but he was too damn stubborn to want any help from any of us. Marco and I had to drag him to the infirmary together before he finally got treatment. Sheesh, all pirates are so hopeless," she said.

Luffy's eyes widened. That wasn't what he had heard from Ace… When Ace had shown him his tattoo back at Alabasta, he had seemed so proud.

"It's my pride and joy," he had said.

"They're my family," he had said.

Was what Anna was saying really true? Had Ace hated the Whitebeard pirates at first? But what happened? Luffy found himself wanting answers. Answers, that he just wouldn't be able to get right now…

"Hey, kid, you're staring off into space," Anna commented.

"Oh! Sorry about that, Shishishi!"

"Anyway, you're not planning to fight or harm Whitebeard or his crew in any way, are you? 'Cause that would be straight-up suicidal, I'm telling you," Anna said, WAY to calmly.

"No! Of course not! I would never harm Ace's captain or his Nakama!" Luffy exclaimed, stating the obvious.

"Just what is your relationship with Ace anyways?" Anna asked.

"He's my big brother!"

As soon as Luffy told her that, Anna's jaw appeared to drop to the floor along with the chopsticks and the bowl of rice.

"Your what?"

"Big brother," Luffy repeated. Anna put her fingers to her forehead and looked like she just realized something.

"Of course. Of freaking course. That explains why you reminded me so much of him! I thought it was just a coincidence, but if you're his brother, then it all makes sense!" Anna said, sounding like she had a headache. Luffy simply laughed and finished his food.

Anna started talking again as she picked up the mess that had been made on the floor, and took all the dishes in the meantime as well.

"Come, help me do the dishes," she said.

"But I don't know how-"

"Come, and HELP ME do the DISHES. It wasn't a question," she said, to which Luffy was left with no choice but to listen.

As the two were doing the dishes, Luffy doing better than Anna had imagined he would, a new conversation started.

"So. Whaddya want on Whitebeard's ship?" Anna asked.

"Long story," Luffy replied. Anna just sighed and finished drying off the plate she was holding.

"If you're Ace's little brother, I assume you're also a pirate?" She stated, to which Luffy nodded vividly.

"Yep! I have a bounty of 300.000.000 and everything, Shishishi!" He exclaimed, smiling. Anna smiled as well, for some reason.

Anna

"Let me give you some tips," Anna said.

"Tips? For what?"

"For when you're going to Whitebeard's ship, obviously," Anna said, a slightly annoyed look on her face.

"But I don't need tips! They're Ace's Nakama, I don't have to do anything special!" Luffy replied.

Anna sighed before replying. "Just because they're Ace's Nakama, then it doesn't give you a reason to act as disrespectful as you have here," Anna said in a sharp tone of voice. Luffy was just about to complain but decided against it as he didn't want to get strangled by Anna again.

The two of them finished doing the dishes and moved to the control room. The submarine had been on auto-pilot for the last while, but Anna took over again.

"Number one. Address the people of higher standing correctly," Anna started.

"Eh? I thought you were giving me tips, not manner lessons!" Luffy exclaimed, getting flashbacks of many boring hours together with Makino.

"Be quiet and listen! No interruptions, you got that?" Luffy nodded and stiffened in his seat.

"If you happen to meet a commander, such as.. Marco for example, then say 'commander' when addressing them, okay?" Anna said, staring daggers into Luffy's eyes. He nodded.

"Number two. Try not to cause any trouble. Though knowing you, you probably will," Anna said. The room fell into an awkward silence for several seconds, as Luffy was too scared to reply. Anna broke it a few seconds later.

"And lastly… don't… don't do anything threatening towards any crewmate, or Whitebeard for that sake okay? They won't hesitate to kill you," Anna said a little too seriously. Luffy just stared at her. He could feel it. Anna… Anna did really care about them…

Alright! It was decided. Luffy was gonna follow these rules! He was sure Ace would be happy if he did as well. Luffy smiled.

"Go to bed, kid," Anna said.

"What!? It's not even 10 PM yet! I'm not a kid, I don't have a bedtime," Luffy said.

"Yes, you are. And when I say go to bed, you go to bed," Anna commanded. Luffy sulked but managed to drag himself to his room where he lied awake for long, before finally, at long last, falling asleep.

"Kid! Kid, wake up! We're here! We're at Kaika island! Don't make me come in and wake you!" Sounded a voice from the other side of the door. Luffy sat up and yawned before he realized that Anna may just have made a death threat at him, and hurrying out the door.

He was greeted by Anna's lovely, surprisingly neat self. She looked nice, especially for a 42-year-old woman.

"Nice to see you're awake, kid," she said. Luffy just nodded, and the two of them headed to the giant iron door, leading out of the submarine.

As soon as he poked his head out, the sun blinded his eyes for several seconds, but the open-air felt refreshing. The smell of salt from the ocean instantly hit him. It was refreshing. Being stuck in a giant bundle of inclosed metal for many hours sure made it feel good to be out in the open again.

Luffy breathed in a deep breath of the nice, refreshing air and stretched. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, everything was great. He turned to face Anna, who was still standing behind him.

"Well, this is where we say goodbye," Anna said. Luffy stared for a couple of seconds.. he was gonna miss her… Yeah sure, he had been scared for his life several times while traveling with her, and she had threatened and abused him a lot… okay, maybe he wasn't gonna miss her as much after all.

Luffy nodded quickly, before turning around. He couldn't wait to get away from Anna, and hopefully, never see her again!

"Kid? You just gonna leave like that?" Anna asked, a trace of anger in her voice.

"Th-thanks for the ride, Annie!" He said, sweating.

"IT'S ANNA. A-N-N-A. Is that so hard to understand!?" She yelled, grabbing Luffy by the arm.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Luffy moaned. Darn it! He had been so close to avoiding this again! Though all of a sudden, the grip around his arm loosened. He looked back at Anna who was standing there, an almost sad expression on her face.

She let go of Luffy's arm before walking back to the submarine.

"Take care, kid. Don't get yourself killed," Anna said. Luffy was left wondering why she had said that but got no answer as she just closed the door and re-sunk into the water. A strong feeling of loneliness and emptiness hit Luffy in the stomach for some reason, but he shoved it aside as turned his attention to the island. Now all he had to was find the Moby Dick! Luffy smiled. Off he went, on his search to find Ace's boat!

Well… that had proved a lot easier than Luffy thought. The boat was literally humungous! No one would be able to miss it, it was so big.

Just how big of a crew were the Whitebeard pirates!? Luffy had heard only a little about them, but no one had mentioned the huge freakin' ship that looked like a whale! Wait… was there a connection there? Meh, who knew. Luffy shrugged it off and admired the many pirates going to and from their boat.

Great, Luffy had found their boat. Now, all that mattered was getting on board and finding Ace!

Luffy grinned. With all this mayhem going on, he would be able to sneak onto the boat easily.

"All men aboard! Last chance if you wanna come back out to sea with us!" Yelled a voice, and instantly, people started streaming back to the ship, the perfect opportunity for Luffy. He grinned, and took his hat off and let it hand around his neck, so his head wouldn't stick out so much.

"Alrighty… here we go!" Luffy exclaimed, running over the crowd the was moving slowly because of the many people who tried squishing their way onto the boat. Blending into the crowd couldn't possibly have gone any easier.

Now all that was left to do was to pray that no one realized that he wasn't really a Whitebeard pirate and get on board and find Ace. It's not like they would believe him if he said: "well, I'm Ace's ACTUAL brother." Not without Ace actually being there.

"Hey! You! Short one!" Luffy flinched out of surprise. Someone was on to him. Oh crap! Luffy looked to see who had called out to him and saw a… woman (?) wearing a kimono coming towards him. No- wait, when he looked closely, it was a man. The voice was too deep to belong to a woman too. Meaning- an Okama.

"Y-yeah? Whaddya want?" Luffy asked as calmly as possible. The man looked Luffy up and down before answering.

"Come give a hand," he said. Luffy blinked in surprise.

Silence…

"I said, come give a hand loading the last supplies!" Izo shouted. Luffy nodded and followed the commander to a pile of boxes.

"Just start loading them onto the ship. We're leaving in 10, so don't let it take any longer, okay?" He said.

"You got it!" Luffy exclaimed, to which he started carrying the boxes and placing them onto the ship. Good, no one seemed to call him out for not being a real Whitebeard pirate… if all went according to plan, he could finally get to see Ace, and tell him about Sabo!

"Commander Izo! We've finished loading the last supplies onto the ship!" Came a voice from the other direction.

"Great, head back onto the deck before we leave. You there, are you finished as well!?" Izo yelled from a little further.

"Yes, I am!" Luffy yelled as a response.

"All men aboard, we're heading out!" Came a voice from the Moby Dick again.

"Good, let's hurry! We're the last ones left, and we've gotta get on before she takes off!" Izo exclaimed, to which Luffy only nodded and followed his lead.

2 minutes later, and the ship had left the port and was once again sailing out towards the big open ocean. There was still a lot of people on board, making it almost a little too crowded. Luffy didn't care about that though, all that mattered was finding Ace!

He looked around, desperately scanning the huge crowd of people for his big brother. But even as the crowd started dying down, he could see nothing.

'Where's Ace…?' Luffy thought, spacing out a little bit.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps come towards him. Luffy was so caught up in thought that he didn't realize before the man said something to him.

"Hey there, looking for something?" It said.

Thatch

The Moby Dick was lively. Livelier than usual. That was understandable though. The entire crew had just re-gathered after taking a couple of days of rest at an island. Thatch was glad that they were heading back out to sea, though.

He had always been a bigger fan of the sailing part of the pirate life. Something about the ocean just spoke to him… no, not literally, but he felt more natural sailing around on the unpredictable waters that took up over 80% of the entire world.

Thatch grinned. The sun was shining and the sky was clear. Not a storm in sight. This was gonna be a great day!

"Hey, Thatch! We're about to start unloading supplies, come give hand, will you?" 16th division commander, Izo, the crossdressing kimono-wearing man yelled.

"Do I have to?" Thatch asked, his brow furrowing.

"Marco's orders, not mine," Izo simply replied as he left again. Thatch sighed. When Marco of all people requested- no ordered something, you better get your ass to work, because that blue phoenix was scary.

The crowd on board had finally started dying down a little bit, as people were moving to their respected rooms to rest, or elsewhere.

This was more like it. The Moby Dick could get overly crowded at times, but Thatch didn't mind.

Well, of course, this meant more work for him as the 4th division commander and head chef.

Cooking for over 1000 people was not as easy as it may sound, but Thatch loved doing it more than all the tedious paperwork that was required as a division commander. He would often trick other people into doing it for him, or play Marco or even Oyaji to avoid doing it.

Most of the time, he got away with it. Most of the time.

Just as Thatch was about to head under the deck to help unload supplies, something caught his attention. A boy. But not just any boy. A small, black-haired boy looking utterly amazed by his surroundings.

'Interesting… He looks so young,' Thatch thought. He was pretty sure he would've remembered someone like him... heck! He looked even younger than Ace, the little brother of the entire crew. A new member, perhaps?

Thatch approached the boy slowly. As soon as he heard the commander's footsteps, he turned to him in surprise.

"Hey there, looking for something?" Thatch asked, very clearly being what the boy was doing. The small boy grinned widely, clearly being very excited.

"Yeah, have you seen Ac- I MEAN commander Ace anywhere?" He asked, a tone of carelessness sounding clearly in his voice.

"Ace?" Thatch brought a hand to the bottom of his chin. He was requesting Ace. A new member of his division?

"No, sorry, kid. He's on a mission. If all goes according to plan he should be back in 2 days," Thatch said, looking like he remembered something as soon as he had.

"But knowing him, he's probably got himself caught up in some kind of trouble, so I'd say at least 4 days," Thatch said, looking at the boy. He caught a glint of something in his eye. Was it.. disappointment? Thatch couldn't tell for sure, 'cause it went away again just about as quickly as it had appeared.

"Alright, thanks, commander Bread Hair!" Thatch immediately face-planted into the floor.

"Whe-where did you learn that nickname!?" He exclaimed. He thought he had gotten rid of that ages ago! When Ace had first been rebelling, that particular nickname seemed to be what he identified Thatch as.

The others had slowly started picking up on it, and all aboard the ships you could hear muttering of 'Bread hair' everywhere. That had not been fun, but the nicknaming had stopped as soon as Ace had called Marco a 'blue turkey', and he had gotten his ass fairly and thoroughly kicked. No one had dared to mention anything about any nicknames ever since then. Ace had spent 2 weeks in the infirmary.

'Damn that Ace! Teaching his subordinates that name! He is so dead once he gets back!' The cook thought, not realizing that the little boy was staring at him. As soon as he did, he snapped out of his thoughts and started talking to him again.

"So, uh, you new here? I don't feel like I've seen you around before." 'And I would definitely recognize someone like him,' He thought afterward.

"Yep," Luffy said, popping the 'P' sound.

"You seem awfully young… how old are you exactly?"

"17," he answered quickly.

'17? He doesn't look older than 15... And I thought Ace looked young for his age…'

"Wait, what's your name-"

"THATCH! Where the hell are you!? I thought I asked you to be down 10 minutes ago, yoi!" Came a terrifying yell from nearby. Thatch gulped. Crap, he had been stuck in conversation with this kid for so long that he had completely forgotten that Marco had asked after him.

"Well, I gotta go now! Oh, and if you're gonna stay, then be careful not to make Marco angry. And good luck with Ace as your division commander!" Thatch yelled. Seconds later, he vanished, and another man came storming past Luffy.

Luffy couldn't help but feel a little bad for Thatch, but he just giggled and continued on with his day.

And that's that! Chapter 2 should hopefully be out already (as it's already written), but if not, expect it to be really soon! OwO