AN: It's been a while. Hate it when I have to reread everything and rewatch scenes or episodes just to write one chapter so I kept pushing it back. Tried to write a made up event in the first half, just some fun idea that actually made me write this chapter. I plan to increase the pace by a lot for the next few chapters. In max 10 chapters I wanna have him sail the grand line with his main crew. Actually worked on the next few chaps so they shouldn't take to long to be uploaded.
Jackson POV
Three days. That's how long it had been since we last set foot in Foosha Village.
Clang!
It was almost strange that such a short amount of time could make me feel like something important was missing.
"You little bastard! Once I catch you—UGH!"
To think that not having a hyperactive oddball running around us all the time could actually make me feel uneasy.
"Goddamn it, they're just some stinkin' brats! Kill them already!" a gruff voice roared.
"Oi, Ace, Sabo!" I called out, leaning back against a pile of discarded wooden crates. "I'm kind of having a moment of self-reflection here. Can't you beat them a little more quietly?"
"Just go away if you don't wanna help!" my twin brother instantly snapped, ducking under a rusty dagger aimed squarely at the back of his head.
'All hail observation haki, I guess,' I mused, watching him deliver a swift kick to the thug's kneecap.
To be fair, it probably looked bad that I was just sitting lazily on the sidelines while Ace and Sabo fought a dozen lowlifes from Gray Terminal. But someone had to guard the hostage we'd just rescued, right?
"Whoa! Careful, Sabo, don't push them in this direction!" I warned as a flying body nearly knocked over the trembling teenage girl sitting behind my crates.
"Easy to complain while sitting on your arse!" Sabo yelled back, parrying a sabre strike with his steel pipe. "You accepted this job, so why the hell are only Ace and me fighting?!"
"Training?" I offered. It was a short answer, but one they couldn't really argue with.
"Though it is true I kind of went ahead and accepted a commission on my own, it's good for you two as well."
"Shut up!" They both roared in return. For a moment it made me wonder whether I had done something wrong but thinking back to how this situation came to be, only confirmed that I did nothing wrong.
Despite being a lawless junkyard, Gray Terminal had unwritten rules. The main one: keep the fancy folks and civilians from Edge Town out of the local infighting. But recently, a bold new faction calling themselves the 'Cleaners' had tried to monopolize all the smuggling rings. How? The Guard chief Handerson, in lesser circles known as 'patron of smugglers and thieves' happened to have a teenage daughter who thirsted for adventure. Long story short, one thing led to another, they sacked his daughter.
Now smugglers and thieves actually had to exclusively deal with the cleaners to stay in Handerson's good grace, whereas the Gray Terminal's inhabitants couldn't risk cornering them in fear of hurting Handerson's daughter.
If she got hurt, Handerson with his guard battalion would wipe out Gray Terminal in less than a day. That's where we came into play.
"Are you squirts the rumoured monster brats?"
Shortly after the girl was captured a guard had appeared at Dadan's door looking for Ace and me.
"I heard you are reliable 'mediators' for negotiations on Gray Terminal? My superior asks for your 'skills' in return for a thank you fee. You just have to ensure the safe return of a girl, and a good beating for some people."
As for why we were even involved in this? Let's just say I haven't always lived the quietest of lives ever since synchronization with my old man's template began. Sometimes there were techniques or exercises I wanted to test out, which would be too much for Ace or Sabo to handle. And hunting sea monsters every single time or tormenting innocent animals for it wasn't to my liking. Luckily on this huge junkyard were people worse than trash.
For example, my favourite training dummy was a known rapist that would fall back into old habits from time to time. One day, I think it was after my seventh birthday he tried to make me his next target. Must have seen me wander around Gray Terminal with Ace and Sabo. So, I decided for him to help me test myself to the fullest whenever my synchronization with my old man's template increased. I mean what else can he do? Say 'No I don't want to'? Pfft please! Anyways that's why people began calling me monster brat, some even asking me to beat up shitheads in their stead.
"Argh! Damn it, it hurts!"
"Huh? You already done?" At some point the sound of groaning men, rather than of clashes of steel and punches, made me focus on them again. Ace and Sabo stood victorious amidst a pile of unconscious Cleaners, panting heavily.
I tossed a small pouch of coins I had collected from the "negotiations" into the air, the metallic clink echoing through the garbage heaps. Handerson's men would pick up the girl soon. Our job was done.
"Damn them," Ace suddenly groaned, flopping onto a nearby boulder and staring at the smoke-filled sky. "All they had were weapons and numbers. Nobody even put up a decent fight today."
Sabo, wiping dirt from his hat, didn't even look up. "You sad about that? If they actually knew how to fight, I could have died!"
"That's right." I chimed in. "Ace is already at a point where only a salvo of gunfire would be really threatening to him. Therefore Sabo, I will increase your training intensity for observation haki by a lot. Believe me by next year you'll have it down, one way or another."
Cold shudder. My eyes didn't miss Sabo's reaction to my words.
"Anyways!" He hastily tried to change our topic. "We searched for their hideout for 3 days and fought so many of them! Why not go relax and eat something with the money we made. The amount is decent enough that even after spending a little, it will contribute nicely to our stash."
"That sounds nice." Ace stood back up ready to march at a moment's notice. "Let's go to Foosha Village then."
"Hoh? Could it be that you want to play with Luffy?" I teased.
"Of course not!" Came his immediate reaction. "Who would want to play with a cry-baby like that?! It's the stew in the bar I want! The stew! Not the cry-baby! The stew!"
"Right," Sabo smirked, exchanging a knowing glance with me.
"If Ace wants stew, we should go get stew," I said, suppressing a grin. "Let's head to Foosha right away then!"
3rd POV
Roughly 2 hours after a certain fight on Gray Terminal. Down in Foosha Village, the peaceful afternoon was currently being shattered by an intense screaming match behind Party's Bar.
"My brothers are way stronger than your dumb captain!" Luffy yelled, his fists clenched at his sides.
Standing opposite of him, practically vibrating with indignation, was a girl with striking red and white hair. "No way! Shanks is the greatest pirate in the world! He could beat up your stupid brothers with one hand tied behind his back!"
"Nuh-uh! Jackson would smash him! And Ace would punch him right into the ocean!"
"Liar! You're just a baby who doesn't know anything about real strength!" Uta stuck her tongue out.
"I am no liar! Big brother Jackson is the strongest person after grandpa! And Ace is also strong and he can even climb cliffs without problems while carrying big boulders. Uta, you have no idea!"
"Hmpf! I climb the mainmast of the Red Force every day! I bet I am way better than this Ace," Uta said, crossing her arms.
"Are not!"
"Yes, I am"
"Then let's race! If I can climb the cliff next to the port faster than you, you will admit that you have no idea about strength or my brothers!"
"Deal!"
In one moment's, notice, both children were gone, eagerly racing towards a cliff side towering over Foosha village's little port. Once there it took them even less time to begin their climb. Absolutely zero hesitation from either of them. While placing foot after hand, searching for solid advantages and quick routes up the cliff, both children failed to notice how brittle some jotting stones were.
*CRACK*
Much to Uta's ill luck, it happened to be her who misstepped first, falling prey to gravity's fangs. She felt her body tilting, slowly pulling away from the wall she had just been holding onto.
'I… am falling?' A short moment of shocking realization flashed through her mind.
"Uta!"
Luffy saw it. It happened just as he turned toward her in order to gloat. Instead, he lunged. There were no thoughts behind it, only tragedy, as the stone he was holding onto came loose under the sudden shift in weight. Now he, too, was falling.
Uta squeezed her eyes shut, terrified of the impact that never came. Her fall unexpectedly came to a halt a lot softer than she had feared. Someone had caught her securely in one arm, while grabbing Luffy by the back of his shirt, effectively halting his fall as well.
She slowly opened her eyes. Standing there, holding her like she weighed nothing at all, was a tall boy. He had messy hair with a rare tone of blonde, brownish-golden eyes, and freckles plastered across his nose.
"You kids should really check the rocks before you put your weight on them," Jackson said, setting Uta gently on her feet before dropping Luffy onto his butt.
"Jackson!" Luffy beamed, completely unbothered by the near-death experience. "You came!"
Uta stared up at Jackson, unable to tear her eyes away from him. Why couldn't she look away? The girl did not know. "T-Thank you..." she mumbled, her previous loud confidence evaporating into shy embarrassment.
Jackson finally took a good look at her, his gaze landing on the unmistakable split of red and white hair. His jaw nearly dropped to the ground.
'No way. It can't be. Uta? She is canon?! Shanks is finally here?!'
Before Jackson could reply, Ace and Sabo arrived at the clearing. Jackson had suddenly vanished when they spotted Luffy falling from the cliff, so they had hurried right after him.
Suddenly, a fist slammed squarely down onto the top of Luffy's head.
BANG!
"Ouch! Hey, that hurts!"
"As it should! Can you stop attracting trouble for just a few days?!" Ace scolded him, his anger making him appear three times taller in Luffy's eyes. But beneath the loud yelling, Ace's hand was trembling ever so slightly from the sheer scare the kid had just given him.
"Sabo! Jackson! Ace is bullying me again!"
"What did you say, you cry-baby?!" Hearing him, Ace nearly went up in flames, clearly getting ready to smack him again. Luffy quickly scrambled and hid behind Jackson, who, so far, had been the kindest to him.
Sabo, too, would have loved to scold Luffy after witnessing him almost fall to what could have been his death. Instead, he just let out a long, heavy breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Neither of the two boys realized just how fiercely protective they had actually become of their little pack of trouble.
"Easy now. We can still deal with this idiot later," Jackson chuckled. "Why don't you first turn around and take a look at the port?"
Ace sighed, crossing his arms to stop his hands from shaking. He then shifted his gaze past the cliff, toward the village port, where the imposing mast of the Red Force was visible. A competitive glint appeared in his dark eyes.
Sabo adjusted his hat, reading Ace's expression perfectly. "So, pirates actually docked in Foosha Village?"
"Looks like it," Ace smirked, cracking his knuckles. "Let's go see if they're tough."
Jackson could only shake his head in secret.
'YOU wanna go and see whether the Red Hair Pirates are tough? Courting death!'