Chapter Text
“A child of the sea, a sweet baby the sea entrusted to only a king soon to be.”
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POV-Ace
Luffy had thought it was a great idea to go to the side of the mountain where the beach was because he wanted to see the sea up close, instead of their spot at the cliff they usually go to. So he was taking his stupid brother down the mountain to the beach, where a small cove was riddled with rocks for him to explore, with a small tide pool that would prevent Luffy from drowning… maybe.
He might have to watch Luffy, damnit, whatever. It had been a 20-minute walk down the mountain, having to catch Luffy too many times to count from running off without him, which caused a lot of complaining and struggling. Speaking of complaining. “ACEEEEE, why are you going so slowwwwww?” Luffy whined for what must have been the millionth time.
“WILL YOU BE QUIET!?” I said, giving him a hard whack on the head with my pipe, which only succeeded in making his neck stretch, then snapped back in place. “Stop whining, we're almost there anyway, so shut your mouth!
See here,” I say, pointing to the cove. Luffy jumps, yelling in excitement before running off to the water, leaving me to follow him to make sure he doesn't drown. “HEY, WAIT UP IDIOT,” I yelled, chasing after him. I swear, why did I have to have an idiotic brother, who sometimes I wish didn't grow up so fast. No stop, not important right now.
It took way too much time to find Luffy after he had gone into the cove with all the rocks that hid him -even if he wasn't trying to. I was calling out, trying to find Luffy. When I had finally found him, he was acting strange. He was crouched over a small pool of water that was left behind from the tide pulling out, but that's not the only thing that's a little strange. It's that he's not moving, not even when I call out his name again. He sat there crouched, looking at something.
“Luffy? What are you doing?” I asked. Finally, Luffy turns around. He’s still looking down at the thing he's holding. He’s holding something? What is he holding? “Luffy, what is that? What do you have there?” I asked. Luffy doesn’t say anything at first. He just looks up at me with a confused look on his face. When I finally decide to take a step closer to him, his eyes narrow and he quickly takes a step back. As quickly as it happened, the defensive look in his eyes disappeared, and he went back to being confused. “Ah- sorry Ace I-…I don't know what that was,” he says.
I was a little caught off guard, but was undeterred, “So what do you have that you're so protective over?” I ask him. This time, instead of taking a step backward, Luffy takes a few steps forward. He walks closer to me, giving me a look at the mysterious thing in his arms.
A baby.
The THING in Luffy’s grasp was a baby!
Why did Luffy have a baby? No better question is, where did he get it!?
“LUFFY! WHERE DID YOU GET A BABY!?” I yell because, yeah. What do you do when you find your brother with a random baby in his arms?
Luffy looked at me for a second before looking behind him, then back at me, the water, then back at me again. “The water,” he says.
That might have been the craziest thing Luffy has ever said. On second thought, maybe not, but definitely top three.
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POV-Luffy
Did Luffy mean to get lost in the tall rocks in the cove that Ace had led them to? The cove that he had begged Ace all morning to take him to see the ocean up close? No. No, he did not. Ace was going to be mad at him for running off. That was my future problem because exploring the new and not yet seen by me place was wayyy more important.
Who knew how long I was wandering around till I stumbled across it. I might have even passed it if not for the soft pull I felt towards that certain direction. Towards a small pool of water left behind from the tides pulling out this morning. I look down and there I see it. Partially in the water of the small pool lies… something.
Who was he not to see what it was? His curiosity for everything new and unknown was too strong to ignore. Even if it was nothing. Stepping closer to the pool to see what it was. It looks to be a soft blanket. Hey, that might be nice to add to the pile of blankets that he and Ace call a bed.
When I was now right above it, I went to touch it. Right before I did, it moved. I snatch my right hand back only to stretch it back towards the now-moving thing. It might be food! Already drooling at the thought of food, I stretch my hand out and clutch a part of the blanket before pulling it back to revel… A baby? Yeah, that's what it is.
I remember seeing around one or two back in Foosha village when I lived there. I remember asking Makino about it once when I saw one. Back to the baby, which wasn't food -how disappointing. Maybe I could go hunting with Ace later. His stomach grumbled, and he frowned. Maybe sooner than later. Then there was a shrilling sound. Right. The baby.
It lay there wrapped up in the soft light blue blanket, shrilling in what must be a happy sound by the smile on its face. Tilting my head to the left, the baby does the same thing, tilting my head the other way, it does it again. “Shishishishi,” I laugh as the baby laughs along with its little giggle. “You're funny,” I say, because this is funny. The baby wiggles for a second before it manages to get its right arm out and reach its hand out towards me, “What? What do you want me to do?” I ask.
The baby doesn't answer, obviously. What do you do with a baby? He didn't know, then it kind of clicked. “Do you want me to pick you up?” I ask again, but the baby only waves its hand around, doing a grabby motion.
I slowly try wrapping my hands around their small body covered by the blanket to hold it in my arms. This doesn't feel right because I don't know how to hold a baby, since I've never done it before. I try shifting them a little bit in my arms and try to remember how the women in Foosha held their babies. I tried thinking back that long ago, but only managed to hurt his head because, if he's being honest, I hadn't really been paying attention, and I probably won't ever.
So again, I try to shift them into what feels like a more comfortable position in my arms. Once it feels comfortable enough, I finally get a closer look at the baby's face and head that's poking out of the blanket. A small amount of black hair on its head, and really chubby cheeks that are more chubbier than mine. Their eyes are light brown, almost golden, and they are so big and lively. It’s a surprise that they look normal on their face.
“Hi! My name is Monkey D. Luffy. I'm going to be the king of the pirates”, I say, laughing. The baby giggles again at my laugh. I look at the baby and feel a little instinctual towards them. Looking into the baby's eyes, I paused and looked into the never-ending color. I snapped out of it when I heard my name, “Luffy? What are you doing?” Ace asks. I turned around to see him standing there and looking at me, then at the baby in my arms. I tilt my head in confusion. When did Ace get here? Ace just looks at me and asks again what I have in my hands before taking a step towards me, but then I do something I have never done before. Especially never to Ace. I narrow my eyes and take a step back, pulling the baby towards me as well, not far from how a wild animal would protect its baby.
As soon as I felt it, it vanished not long after, and I'm looking at a wide-eyed, confused Ace. I'm confused as to why I did that, and to my brother, nonetheless. “Ah- sorry, Ace, I don't know what that was,” I say because really, I didn't. Then Ace just asks again, and this time, instead, I take a few steps towards him so he can get a look. Once I'm closer, he can finally see what's in my arms. He freezes for a second.
“LUFFY, WHERE DID YOU GET A BABY!?”