Chapter Text
Chapter Two
Thatch couldn't stop staring. His eyes were wide and he was sure that his jaw was touching the ground as his mind took its sweet time to process what he had just seen. Marco was in no better shape. His normally lazy eyes were nearly popping out of his head. Had those three boys really just taken on that huge tiger and won? It didn't seem possible, but it had to be, they had all seen it.
Marco was the first to recover when he noticed the old man smirking beside them; like he had no doubt that they could handle that monster. Marco realized he probably didn't doubt what they were capable of; he had been telling them to just watch the entire time after all.
"Come on," he said, elbowing Thatch. The fourth division commander, snapped his mouth shut.
"Where are we going?" he asked, his brain clearly not having caught up with Marco yet.
"I have some questions for those kids," he said simply. Thatch looked back at the kids who were jumping up and down, congratulating themselves on a job well done. Nodding, both division commanders jumped down the cliff, landing on their feet. Marco could have sworn he heard the old man mutter something that sounded like "good luck" but he couldn't be sure.
"That was a pretty impressive show," Marco commented with a lazy smirk.
***
Ace was the first to whip his head around at those words. He had just known they were being watched. He silently cursed to himself as he and Sabo stood in front of Luffy, feeling the need to protect their little brother.
Sabo recognized them as the pirates they had met on the beach that morning. He wondered what the chances of them accidentally stumbling upon them in this huge jungle were. Maybe they had been following them, but he hadn't felt they were being followed at all and he was usually able to pick up on that kind of thing. When your grandfather was Garp the Fist, running away, hiding and knowing when someone was following you were essential skills for survival.
"What, were you stalking us or something?" Ace asked rudely, holding the pipe in front of him defensively.
"Easy now there, tiger," Marco said, putting his hands up in mock surrender, trying to calm the child down. "We mean no harm."
"And we're certainly not stalking you," Thatch put in. "Some old guy from the beach was leading up through the forest so we could pick some fruits and stuff to re-supply our ship. We just happened to see you, that's all."
"A likely story," Sabo said suspicion still clear on his face. Even though they all wanted to be pirates some day didn't mean they were ready to take the word of just anyone. After all they had all had their bad experiences with adults in general. Also the Bluejam incident was still pretty fresh in their minds. Well, Ace and Sabo's minds at least. Nothing seemed to phase Luffy for very long.
"Shishishi, it was awesome right!?" Luffy asked, breaking the tense silence, an impossibly large grin on his face.
"Very impressive," Thatch agreed with a smile. "You boys are pretty strong. Who though you to fight?"
"We taught ourselves," Ace scuffed, there was no way he was going to let these pirates thing that they needed anyone to teach them anything. "We're perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves." Marco couldn't help but frown at that.
"Is that so, what about your parents, yoi," he said. "Don't they take care of you?"
"Don't got any," Ace retorted, still holding his pipe threateningly. It wasn't the complete truth, he knew Sabo's parents were alive, but they really didn't count since Sabo had run away. They were horrible people anyway.
"Doesn't anyone look after you?" Marco pressed. He was really starting to feel concerned.
"Dadan is supposed to be looking after us," Luffy piped up cheerfully.
"Dadan?" Thatch inquired.
"Uh-huh," Luffy said with a nod. "They're mountain bandits! Jiji left me with them. Ace and Sabo were here already, shishishi." Thatch and Marco's eyes went wide at that piece of information.
"Look, it's really none of your business," Ace growled before whacking Luffy on the head for telling them that.
"Ow! Ace is so mean," he whined.
"Shut up, crybaby!" Ace scolded. "You shouldn't have told them anything."
"But they asked and they're not gonna hurt us," Luffy reasoned. Sabo sighed. Luffy really was too innocent and naïve, but his intuition about people was never wrong. It was almost as if Luffy could just look at a person and judge their true character.
Marco, on the other hand, was intrigued with Luffy's logic. He had only meet them once before, and it was a very short encounter, and even though they knew they had no intentions of causing these boys harm, there was nothing to prove that other than words.
"How are you so sure we won't?" he found himself asking. Ace started to growl at that, reminding them of a tiger cub. Luffy stared Marco right in the eye, his wide eyes unblinking.
"Instinct," Luffy told him simply, as if the answer was as plain as day. Marco sweat dropped at that.
"Luffy's instincts are never wrong," Sabo found himself saying, not only for their benefit but also to remind Ace of that fact.
"Is that so?" Thatch said with a smile. "That's some insight you got there then."
"Come on," Ace said, getting tired of waiting and wanting those pirates to just leave. He knew Luffy's instincts were never wrong, but he still didn't trust these guys. They hadn't done anything to earn his trust, not yet at least. "We need to get do our actual hunting. There's no way that thing's really dead."
"We're not gonna eat it?" Sabo asked as he looked at the unconscious tiger. They really hadn't planned what to do with it at all. They beat it, so they should eat it, but it was huge and the three of them weren't going to be able to carry it.
"That thing would just give you indigestion," Ace scowled. He didn't want to kill the tiger. Sure, they had defeated it, but he also knew that if they kept it alive then they could fight it again. They could use it to become stronger.
"It's getting past noon and we haven't caught anything else yet," Sabo tried to reason. He just wanted to eat; he didn't care if it was a tiger, a bear or even a wild boar as long as he got something in his stomach.
"Hey! Why don't we ask Thatch and the pineapple guy to help?" Luffy suggested his huge grin firmly in place. "In exchange well share whatever we catch with ya."
"My name's Marco, yoi," the first division commander said as his eye started to twitch at being called pineapple guy.
"But your hair looks like a pineapple," he said, tilting his head to the side and looking confused.
"Luffy, it's rude to name people by their outward appearance," Sabo told his little brother. Luffy pouted at him before looking back at Thatch and Marco, expecting an answer.
"We don't mind helping," Thatch said while elbowing Marco with a smirk. "Right, pineapple guy?" Marco just cuffed the forth division commander in the head.
"Sure," he said, addressing the boys, completely ignoring Thatch's whining. "We still need to do some hunting of our own anyway.
"That's right!" Thatch remembered. "Hey how bout you tell us what's good to eat around here?"
With that they left the clearing to find a more reasonable catch. They had learned that Thatch was one of the cooks on their ship. Luffy had no problem talking the man's ear off about what he thought was the best things to eat in the forest.
***
Whitebeard was sitting in his usual seat on deck, watching as his sons hurried to get their supplies refilled so they could once again set sail. Among his children milling about the ship he noticed that Marco and Thatch didn't seem to be among them.
"Izou," he called out. The okama came over to him.
"What's up, Pops?" the cross-dressing commander asked.
"Have Marco or Thatch returned yet?" the captain asked.
"I haven't seen them," Izou told him, a frown marring his made up face. "They left this morning to collect some food didn't they?" Whitebeard hummed in agreement and nodded his head.
"Want me to go look for them?" Izou asked. He could tell his father was worried about them. They didn't normally take so long to collect food; they might have run into trouble if Garp the Fist was on the island at the moment.
"No, I'm sure they'll be along eventually," he said, not wanting to send another son out into the jungle.
"Alright, Pops," Izou nodded before going back to helping with restocking the ship.
***
"Whoa! That was amazing!" Luffy gushed. He had just watched Marco deflecting the attack without even doing anything. One good punch and the animal was down.
"How did you do that?" Sabo asked his eyes wide. Ace was stunned as well but was trying very hard not to show it.
"Haki," the blond haired man explained as he made sure the boar was dead before throwing it over his shoulder. They had collected plenty of meat for the boy's dinner and some to re-supply the ship's food stores. He and Thatch had watched impressed with the way the boys took down each animal with ease.
"Can I learn that?" Luffy asked excitedly as they started to make their way to the tree house with Ace and Sabo leading the way.
"It can be learned if you have the ability to use it," Marco told him. "Not everyone can use, Haki."
"So it's like a special mystery power?" Luffy asked causing Marco and Thatch to chuckle.
"Yea, something like that," Marco agreed.
"Do you guy wanna stay for lunch?" Sabo asked to be polite once they reached the tree house. They had helped them hunt after all. Thatch looked to Ace who so far seemed to be the only one who was still uncomfortable around them. He really enjoyed talking to them but didn't want to cause a fight between brothers.
"It's fine if you wanna," Ace said shortly, sensing the man's hesitation. Though he still wasn't completely sure about these pirates.
"Well then, don't mind if we do," Marco's answer was meet with Luffy cheering. He wanted to hear more stories about their adventures at sea.
"I'll be right back," Ace told them, giving Marco and Thatch a look that promised pain if either of them dared to hurt his brothers while he was gone, before taking his kill, a bear and leaving into the woods once more.
"Where's he going?" Thatch asked as he watched the boy leave.
"He's bringing that to Dadan and the other bandits," Luffy told them.
Sabo dropped his catch, a boar and started to prepare it to be cooked. Not wanting to feel useless Marco started collecting some wood for the fire with Luffy. Thatch stayed with Sabo and talked about the best ways to cook wild boar.
***
Ace made his way though the jungle to the mountain bandits hideout. The scowl never left his face, but on the inside he couldn't stop worrying about Sabo and Luffy. He didn't really want to leave them alone with those pirates, but someone had to bring the food back to Dadan and the others.
Luffy was too trusting for his own good, but Ace knew that he had a pretty good insight when it came to judging peoples characters, he wasn't completely naïve. Ace would never admit it, but he found them a bit interesting as well, and Thatch had some pretty interesting stories. He just couldn't stop worrying. Sure they were nice right now, but what if they found out who his father was? They would hate him then, and what if they turned on Sabo and Luffy too for being his brothers? All the horrible possibilities ran though his head, and before he knew it he was standing right outside the bandits hide out. Shaking off all of his negative thoughts he brought the bear over to one of the bandits, he wasn't really paying attention to who it was.
"Here," he said, leaving it there as he turned to head back to the tree house. He didn't want to talk, he just wanted to get back and make sure his brothers were alright.
***
Thatch was cooking the meat over the fire while they waited for Ace to return. He had, had to stop Luffy three times from trying to just eat the meat raw. The kid was sure persistent and impatient to boot. Eventually Marco settled for distracting the boys, namely Luffy with tales of their recent time on the grand line.
"Really?!" Luffy yelled in excitement as Marco was reaching the climax of the story. The small boy's eyes were practically sparkling.
"Really," Marco assured.
Soon Ace came walking through the trees. Luffy grinned up at him in greeting, while Sabo gave a sly smile.
"You're just in time," Thatch told him. "The meat's just about done."
"Okay," Ace acknowledged, sitting down next to Luffy and Sabo. Marco gave him a lazy smile before returning to the story he had been in the middle of telling.
"Now where was I?" Marco asked thoughtfully.
"You were just telling us about the giant current that leads to the sky island!" Luffy reminded him.
"Oh yes, the knock up stream," Marco smiled and continued his story.
***
"So full…." Sabo groaned, laying back and rubbing his full stomach. Ace was in a similar state, laying next to Sabo and burping.
Thatch smiled; glad the boys had enjoyed his cooking. Marco was watching in amazing as Luffy continued to pack every bit of left over food into his mouth. It was crazy. He couldn't understand where Luffy was putting it all. If they had thought that Ace and Sabo were bottomless pits, then this kid was a black hole.
"How can you still be eating?" Marco asked in amazement. Luffy paused and gave the man a huge grin before swallowing his mouth full of food.
"Luffy's always like that," Ace supplied when Luffy didn't seem inclined to give a real answer. Being full and slightly sleepy seemed to have made him chattier. "Sabo has some weird theory about it."
"Oh, what's that?" Thatch asked, looking towards the blonde haired boy.
"Well, Luffy uses a lot of energy," Sabo told them. "You probably noticed that he can't sit still for even a minute. Even when he's eating his arms are everywhere and he's practically bouncing where he sits."
"Yeah," Marco agreed. "But that doesn't explain how he can pack so much food away, eventually his stomach will be full and he won't be able to fit anymore."
"Un," Sabo said, nodding in agreement. "That would be right, if Luffy were normal."
"He's not normal?" Thatch asked, looking confused.
"I ate the gum-gum fruit!" Luffy announced. "Now I'm a rubber man, shishishi!"
"Devil fruit ability?" Marco asked as he watched Ace sit up and stretch Luffy's face to show them. "Where did you get it?"
"It was Shanks'. I ate it by accident," Luffy explained.
"By accident?" Thatch wasn't sure how someone accidentally ate a devil fruit; then again Luffy was a kid who ate everything in sight, so it was more then possible.
"Yeah, it tasted awful though," Luffy told him while making a face. Marco chuckled. He understood that statement as his own devil fruit had been pretty nasty tasting as well.
"Well, boys it's been fun, but we better be getting this stuff back to our ship now," Thatch said while standing up and picking up one of the animals they had hunted earlier. Marco followed suit.
"Awww, but I wanna hear more stories," Luffy whined, earning him a whack over the head by Ace.
"Don't be a crybaby," the older raven scowled.
"I'm not!" Luffy retorted while rubbing his head.
"Tell you boys what," Marco interrupted what could have turned into a brawl. "We're going to be here for a while, our ships pretty big, yoi. It'll take a while to re-supply. We're gonna have to do a lot more hunting, of course we won't be the only crew members doing the hunting, but you boys are pretty strong, yoi."
"You want us to help you hunt?" Ace asked. He could see where this conversation was going but he wasn't sure if they could be trusted yet, and he sure as heck wasn't going to be hunting for someone else for free.
"Why not?" Thatch put in. "In exchange you boys can come on the ship and check it out if you'd like. I'll even make you some yummy food."
"Really!?" Luffy practically yelled. Sabo sighed. These pirates have learned Luffy's weakness so easily already.
"Yup," said Marco. "And I'll tell you more stories. Pops would too and his stories are a lot more exciting them mine."
Ace sighed; it looked like they were going to have no choice. With the way Luffy's eyes were sparkling with excitement, he knew that their little brother would go with or without them, and there was no way he was going to let Luffy onto a pirate ship on his own. Although, he could tell that Sabo would rather demand money in exchange, they were saving up for their own pirate ship after all.
"Fine, it's not like we have anything better to do," Ace relented.
"YOSH!" Luffy cheered, jumping up and down. Sabo and Ace looked at their brother fondly. It might annoy the both of them but at least Luffy was happy.
Marco and Thatch chuckled at the rubber boy's enthusiasm. Now they just had to make sure it was okay with Pops. They didn't think he would really have a problem with it though, but it was better to give everyone a heads up about the trio coming aboard.
"We'll see you tomorrow, then," Thatch said. Marco grabbed his own hunt.
"Can you find your way back to the beach?" Sabo asked sleepily. They had been out to find lunch but after fighting the tiger then hunting with the pirates and waiting for the food to cook, night had already crept up on them.
"We'll be fine, yoi," the blonde assured. "You three get some sleep. We'll see you tomorrow."
"'Kay…" Sabo yawned, before heading to the tree house. Luffy was starting to wear down as well now that the excitement was over. Ace grabbed his little brother and helped him into the tree house, not wanting him to fall asleep on the ladder and fall down.
"Good night," Thatch said before him and Marco headed back into the forest in search for the beach.
"G'night… Thatchy… Pineapple guy…." Luffy muttered before passing out completely. Ace smiled fondly at his already sleeping brothers, wondering just what they had gotten themselves into before laying down and falling asleep on his own pillow.
***
"You've returned, my sons," Whitebeard said when he saw Marco and Thatch coming over the railing. Most of the crew had gone to bed already, aside from the captain and his commanders.
"Sorry, Pops," Marco apologized. "We ran into some interesting kids."
"Oh?" Whitebeard asked looking interested in hearing about it.
"Mmhmm," Thatch agreed, handing over the boar he had to Vista who was offering to put the meat away so that he and Marco could take to the captain.
"You were off playing with kids?" Izou asked in disbelief, well he could see Thatch doing that but Marco too?
"Yeah, there were three of them yoi," Marco nodded, walking up to Whitebeards chair so he could talk to his father much easier. Thatch followed suit with a huge grin.
"Oh yeah, they were pretty cute too," he said. "One of them, Luffy; was a little ball of energy, bouncing all over the place. You should have seen the look on his face when he found out we were pirates, he looked like he had died and gone to Heaven." Whitebeard laughed at that, the booming sound resonating thought the entire ship.
"What about the other two?" he asked interested in the mini adventure his sons had had.
"Well there was Sabo, who seemed kind of paranoid at first, but he was pretty smart for a kid his age. I think he was about ten, yoi," Marco said. "If I had to give him a title I'd say he's probably the peace keeper in their little group."
"Oh yeah," Thatch agreed. "He kept reprimanding Ace on being rude."
"GURARARA!" Whitebeard laughed. "What is this Ace like then, or is he just rude?"
"Well I could tell he doesn't like pirates, or maybe it's just adults in general," Thatch told him more seriously. "He didn't trust us at all. I mean I can't fault him for that. He's a kid, and we are pirates after all, but there was just something off about it all." Whitebeard looked thoughtful at that.
"Sounds like a temperamental child to me," Namur, the eight division commander commented as they listened.
"There's something more, though," Marco said. "They don't have any parents. The three of them are being raised by mountain bandits, yoi…"
"Or are suppose to be," Thatch reminded. "They're living on their own in a tree house in the mountains."
"That is concerning," Whitebeard said looking thoughtful. He hadn't met these kids yet, but his sons seemed to be fond of them already.
"They sound like they're capable enough though," Haruta commented, hoping to help smooth over their father's worries.
"They definitely are," Thatch assured, "Marco and I watched them take down a giant tiger on their own."
"Seriously!?" the commanders chorused in shock, while Whitebeard just laughed more.
"Also, we told them that they could come and check out the ship, yoi," Marco informed him. Whitebeard smiled at his sons.
"That's fine, I'd like to meet these children myself," he assured them it was alright by him. "It sounds like you had a full day. Why don't you go get some sleep now?"
"Alright," Marco said with a smile and a nod. "Night Pops."
"Good night," Thatch said as he and Marco headed below deck to get some much needed sleep.
Meanwhile on deck, the rest of the commanders wondered what the next day would bring.