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Grand Line – Paradise
Alabasta – Nanohana
Going back a little in time, a few hours after Smoker and his crew arrived at the port city, one of the sailors under his command comes running while speaking breathlessly, "Captain Smoker, sir!"
"What is it? Did you find the Straw Hats?", turning his attention to the panting sailor, Smoker asks. From the news a few days ago, he knew they would arrive in Alabasta before the Straw Hats, and since Nanohana is the main port city of Alabasta, he decided to set up a watch there, as the chances of the Straw Hats docking in this city were high.
"No, sir! Still no sign of them in the city, but I ended up spotting the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Fire Fist Ace!", quickly catching his breath, the sailor says, informing Smoker of what he saw.
"Where is he?", Smoker asks. Fire Fist Ace was a big and infamous name, so it is worth the effort.
"He went into a restaurant. Do you want me to take you there, sir?", the marine points in the direction he came running from and asks, wanting to know if Smoker wanted to be taken to the said restaurant.
"Obviously!", Smoker says, gesturing for him to show the way.
=Scene Break=
In the said restaurant, everyone present, employees and customers, looked apprehensive, scared, and worried at a muscular young man wearing a cowboy hat, sitting at the restaurant counter, his back to them, his face fallen onto the plate from which he had been eating until a few seconds ago, one of his hands, still holding the fork, frozen in midair, several stacks of dirty plates piled up on the counter around him.
Now, something worth noting about the young man's appearance was his bare back, where he proudly displayed a tattoo of a purple skull with a square jaw, wearing a large white mustache curved upwards, behind it, purple bones crossed formed a cross.
"Could he really be dead?", one of the customers asks uncertainly, looking at the young man who seemed to have suddenly fainted, frightening everyone.
"Yes, he suddenly fainted while talking to the owner of the establishment", another customer, this time someone who saw what happened, comments with a sigh.
"He looks like a traveler, he must have eaten a desert strawberry!", another customer suddenly comments, guessing that the young man accidentally ate a poisonous spider.
"Desert strawberry?", another customer standing next to the man who had just commented asks in doubt, was it a poisonous fruit?
"Yes, it's a venomous spider that looks like a strawberry! It's quite common for unsuspecting outsiders to eat them by mistake. It has two different venoms in its body, one that is lethal, but it doesn't have the ability to inject, and another that causes delayed paralysis in the target, and that one it can inject. It's an almost unbeatable predator in its environment; the only animal that preys on it is the pineapple–headed lizard, which is immune to its venoms. The worst part is that you don't even feel the bite; the desert strawberry must have bitten him before being eaten", the man who mentioned the spider with a fruit's name says, explaining everything he knew about this species of spider.
"Pineapple–headed lizard? You're messing with me, right?", now this guy was just making up a bunch of bullshit.
"What? That's its name, it's not my fault that its head looks like a pineapple!", the man shrugs, he wasn't lying, that was the name of the lizard that preys on the desert strawberry.
"Should we get closer?", a woman asks. The young man had been dead for a while, and so far, no one had dared to touch the body.
"I don't recommend it, who knows what else this young man ingested before coming here!", the same man from before comments. It could be dangerous to mess with this young man's body.
And then, at that moment, the young man suddenly gets up, 'coming back to life', his face dirty with food.
"Ahhhhhhhh!!! Zombieeeeee!", all the customers surrounding the young man move away in fright.
"Nice little nap… hmm? Why is everyone looking at me like that?", the young man stretches, before asking, noticing that everyone was staring at him.
"Are you okay?... Kyaaaaa!!!", a woman then approaches and asks worriedly, only for, in the next instant, the young man to use her skirt to wipe his face dirty with food, frightening her.
"How rude, we were worried about you, and this is what you do to someone who just wanted to know if you were okay?", everyone shouts indignantly at the young man's behavior.
"Worried about what? I was just taking a little nap!", the young man asks, not understanding why these people were having this overreaction.
"Napping out of absolutely nowhere while talking to someone? We thought you were dead, idiot!", everyone shouts angrily.
"I have narcolepsy, I can't do anything about it! Honestly, you people are way too stressed, you should take a calmative or go to therapy or something!", the young man says before turning his attention back to the counter and remarking to the owner of the establishment while he went back to eating from the plate he had fainted onto, "These people are funny, aren't they, sir? Anyway, I'm gonna want more food!"
"They were only worried, but I'm glad you're okay", the owner of the establishment comments with a relieved sigh. No one had died in his restaurant, thank God.
"Thanks for the concern… I guess! Anyway, before I fell asleep I was going to ask you, have you seen this smiling boy around the city yesterday or maybe today?", thanking without really understanding why, the young man then takes Luffy's updated wanted poster from his pocket and shows it to the owner of the establishment, asking if he had seen him alroundy the city.
"No, I've never seen this kid in my life, and I'm pretty good at remembering faces! Do you know him?", the owner of the establishment asks after denying having seen Luffy around the city.
"He's my little brother, this is the third port city I've visited in Alabasta trying to find him, he should have arrived on the island yesterday or today", the young man, Ace, in this case, comments while scratching the back of his neck. From the newspaper news a few days ago, and assuming he got his message in Drum, Luffy should have already arrived or be arriving in Alabasta around today.
At that moment, the front door of the establishment opens, and Smoker walks in, his presence drawing the attention of all the customers, who make way for him to pass, giving him a clear view of Ace's back, who seemed completely unaware of his arrival.
"It's supposed to assume that pirates prefer to move stealthily when docking in cities, but it seems that's not the case!", stopping in the middle of the dining room, Smoker comments, staring directly at Ace's tattooed back, the atmosphere in the room suddenly turning tense.
"Is that so?", without looking back, Ace asks disinterestedly, folding his brother's wanted poster before putting it back into the pocket of his shorts, taking a sip from the mug in front of him next.
"Portgas D. Ace! What is the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates doing on this island?", Smoker asks, shedding light on Ace's identity, which makes everyone present step back in fright, while the said pirate only lets out an amused snort.
"Well, it's none of your business, but since you want to know! I'm just passing through, mainly! And since I'm around here, I decided to look for my little brother!", turning to Smoker, Ace grabs a toothpick from a little box and says with a roguish smile while biting it.
"Hmm! You're under arrest!", Smoker suddenly says, deciding to make the arrest as quickly as possible, having no patience for a conversation with someone who wasn't even his main target.
"No, I'm not! Chill out, man! You need to relax a bit…", raising an eyebrow, Ace says with an amused snort, only to be interrupted mid-sentence by the loud bang of the establishment's front door being opened with force.
Luffy then enters the establishment, and the scenes from the previous chapter unfold.
=Scene Break=
"What the fuck, Luffy? It's the first time we've seen each other in three years, and you come at me with this stupid joke!", after his brain rebooted, Ace says angrily. This joke wasn't funny.
"As unbelievable as it may seem, our idiot little brother isn't lying. Did you forget he's terrible at lying or keeping secrets?", entering the establishment and stopping in the middle of the room next to Smoker, Sabo comments with a smile on his face, having removed his mask upon entering the place.
"... Sa… Sa… Sa… Sab… Sabo?", as soon as he lays eyes on the owner of the new voice, Ace stammers in shock, instantly recognizing his brother, who was supposed to be dead.
"I missed you, brother!", taking off his top hat and running his free hand through his hair, Sabo says with a smile as he approaches his brothers, passing by Smoker, who seemed still not to have processed the last moments since Luffy's arrival.
"B… but… but they blew up your boat… D… Dogra saw it and told us, we all thought… we all thought you had died… why didn't you… why didn't you come back if… if you were alive?", reluctant to believe, Ace stammers, tears running down his face.
"Amnesia!", Luffy, beside him, says with his mouth full, still stuffing himself with food as if there were no tomorrow.
"Luffy's father saved me, but I didn't remember anything, not even my own name; all I had left was the feeling of not wanting to go back to my parents! I only regained my memories when the crybaby next to you found me in Loguetown", Sabo says, elaborating on what Luffy had just said.
"Hey, I'm not a crybaby!", Luffy turns his gaze to Sabo and complains, frowning, his mouth completely full.
What was he doing? His brother was right there, alive, well, in front of him; he knew it, there was nothing to question, and yet he was frozen in front of him for what?
"To me, you're still a crybaby… I'm alive, man! And I'm not going anywhere!", Sabo says to Luffy, only for Ace to jump on him, hugging him tightly while crying. The revolutionary then says as he hugs him back.
"Hey!", Smoker back to his sense and says, trying to get the three's attention.
"If I'm a crybaby, then you and Ace are too!", putting aside the plate of food in front of him, Luffy turns completely to his brothers and says sullenly, chewing loudly on the food already in his mouth. Sabo cried when he got his memories back, and Ace is crying now.
"Hey, you three!", Smoker speaks once again upon realizing he was ignored, his voice louder, a vein bulging on his forehead.
"You're the crybaby because you're the weakest of the brothers, Luffy!", breaking free from the hug, Ace says with a teasing smile while wiping the tears from his eyes.
"That's enough of this fucking shit! Both of you on the ground, you're under arrest for the crime of piracy", exploding with anger, Smoker puts an end to this bullshit, pointing his Nanashaku Jitte at Luffy and Ace.
"Can you go bother someone else, Smokey? We're having a discussion here, in case you haven't noticed! And I'm not the weakest of the three of us, I bet I can beat the crap out of both of you guys nowadays!", dismissing Smoker without caring much about what the Marine said, Luffy turns back to Ace and retorts.
"Yeah, man! Go arrest someone else! And are you kidding, Luffy? I've been at sea for three years, it is more than clear that I'm the strongest of the brothers", dismissing Smoker as well, Ace turns his attention back to Luffy and comments smugly.
"Sorry about these two, but I'd recommend you follow what they said! And Ace, if we are going to follow your logic, then I'm the strongest of the brothers, I've been at sea for ten years!", Sabo apologizes to Smoker for his brothers' behavior before turning to Ace and saying calmly.
"See? Your argument is flawed and smells like shit! That said, I'm the strongest brother! Haven't you seen the news? I can fight Grandpa", Luffy points out, bragging like a spoiled child as he mentions that he can fight against Garp for a while.
"Big deal, and I can fight against Pops for some time too!", Ace fires back, also acting like a child despite being the oldest brother and therefore supposedly more 'mature'.
"Who's Pops?", Sabo asks in doubt.
"Whitebeard!", Ace replies proudly.
At that moment, the three are interrupted by Smoker, who charges at them, attacking with his free arm coated in Haki, a wave of black smoke pouring from his arm, and trying to sweep the three of them away.
It became clear to the marine that Sabo was far more involved with the two pirates than just being their brother, so he would arrest him along with the other two; questions would be asked later.
Upon seeing the wave of black smoke rapidly approaching, Luffy casually takes a seastone bracelet from his pocket and extends it toward the wave of smoke, letting Smoker touch the bracelet and completely lose his strength.
[No, Luffy isn't nerfing himself, he doesn't walk around with a seastone bracelet in his pocket, it just so happened that he had one at this moment by coincidence. Basically, it was a sudden idea I thought was funny, and there's also the fact that the cloth of the pocket protects him, so relax, he can use his powers freely!]
"If you really want to hunt me, you're gonna have to start training seriously, Smokey!", as Smoker falls to the ground weakened, Luffy says, a few seconds before Ace lands a flaming uppercut, coated with Haki, squarely on the marine's chin, sending him flying out of the establishment like an out–of–control missile.
"I think we better get out of here, let's continue the conversation on the Merry!", Sabo says, well aware of the kind of trouble that would follow if they didn't leave the city soon.
"Hold on, first we have to settle who among us is the strongest!", Luffy comments, still on that subject.
"A fight then? To see which of us is the strongest! But you know the Marines will go after the crew while we do that, right?", Sabo suggests before then turning to Luffy and asking, wanting to make sure he knew the Navy would go after the crew while they were fighting.
"Shishishishishishi! They'll be fine as long as an Admiral doesn't show up!", Luffy says excited about the fight, not thinking much about what his crew would have to face.
"Ace?", Sabo asks, wanting to know if Ace wanted to fight too.
"Let's go, I'll show you why I'm the oldest!", Ace says with a confident smile on his face.
"We're the same age, man!", Sabo comments with a raised eyebrow. Did this idiot forget that the two of them are the same age?
"That's exactly why I'm going to show you that I'm the oldest between us two for a reason", Ace says with a smug smile. After all, the strongest was the oldest.
"And Luffy?", Sabo asks. Was he really not even considering Luffy in this competition?
"Luffy's just cannon fodder, the competition is between the two of us! And I hope you've gotten stronger in these years you've been missing, because if not, it will be a very easy victory", Ace replies before heading out of the establishment.
"It's gonna be so funny to see your face when the cannon fodder here wipes the floor with that ugly butt of yours!", Luffy says with a predatory smile as he tosses the seastone bracelet to Sabo, grabbing a sandwich from one of the customers before following Ace out of the establishment.
'It's good to have these interactions back!', putting the seastone bracelet away in one of the pockets of his overcoat, Sabo thinks with a smile before taking a bag of coins from another pocket and tossing it onto the establishment's counter to pay his brothers' bill, then following them right after apologizing to the customer whose sandwich had been stolen by Luffy.
=Scene Break=
Meanwhile, outside the establishment, Smoker gets up from the wreckage of a building on the other side of the street, massaging his sore and scorched jaw. That punch came so fast he couldn't even react before he was already buried under the rubble.
"Captain Smoker! Are you alright, sir?", as soon as she hears the noise of Smoker's collision with the building, Tashigi quickly arrives at the scene with a few marines accompanying her to see what was happening, and upon seeing Smoker emerging from the debris, she approaches and asks worriedly.
"Tashigi, mobilize everyone! The Straw Hats are in the city, capture the crew while I deal with their captain!", Smoker says urgently before going after the three brothers, not giving up and boiling with rage.
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(AN: 2,905 Words)
If you guys decide to give ideas or suggestions about things I should pay attention to in the story, keep in mind that on Patreon, the fic is currently at the Alabasta Arc, more specifically, on Rainbase.
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