ONE PIECE: A NEW LUFFY

WORD COUNT: 1770

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"There he goes again....'sigh'.... What should we do?" asked Nami while rubbing her forehead and looking at dust trail which Luffy left behind. Sanji lit a new cig and took a nice drag from it and released the smoke, "Aahhh....don't worry about him, Nami~~swan. It's not like anyone can harm him." "I know, it's just the fact that his complete dismissal for the bounty placed on his head. I wish he'd pay just a little more attention to that, especially in a country as large as Alabasta...!"

"Just leave him be, unless there is any Admirals or Yonko level threat, we could take it easy. For now, we should go and eat something a well." stated Zoro and jumped off the ship. "Oi, the hell you're going!??? Don't walk alone!!" Ussop shouted and ran after him.

At the restaurant, "Did you hear? He's one of the Whitebeard pirates...." "That Marine called Smoker's famous too!" the restaurant's occupants started to talk among themself while waiting for to see what would happen. Ace leaned on the counter and looked at Smoker, "So? What d'ya want me to do...?" "Give yourself up without resisting." Smoker stated with straight face but Ace just smirked at that, "Sorry, No can do, Smokie."

Smoker's eye twitched at that, "I'm already on the hunt for another pirate right now, So I don't particularly care about taking your head...." "So just look the other way then. I'm afraid I can't do that." stated Ace while doing the shooing motion. But it doesn't look like Smoker is backing down, as white smoke started to rise from his body, "As long as I'm a Marine, and you're a pirate that is...!" seeing this, Ace raised a single brow in amusement, "What a dull reason.... well, let's see what ya got."

But before either of them can do anything, with a loud crash, Luffy enters the restaurant and kicked Smoker, sending him crashing through the walls. Fortunately, Ace ducked in time or he too would have joined Smoker. "SHISHISHISHISHI....well sorry for that Smokie, but I'm super hungry right now!!!" Ace hearing a very familiar laugh immediately looked at the entrance and his grin widen, "LUFFFYYY...." Luffy looked at Ace and his smile widen too, "ACEEEE...." both of them ran at each other and then to everyone's surprise, slammed their elbows on the counter and started to arm wrestle.

"Damn Luffy, look at you.... you've grown taller than me!!! Now you looked exactly like that shitty gramps..." both of them started to exert more force and causing the counter to crack, "SHISHISHI....oh Ace, you haven't seen anything yet." with that, Luffy put just little more pressure and slammed Ace's arm and broke the counter, "Looks like I won!" Groaning, Ace slowly stood up and shakes his hand, "Damn it, just what was Dadan feeding you after I was gone??" he then looked at Luffy and gave a brotherly smile, "It is so nice to see you, little brother..." with that both Ace and Luffy hugged each other and stood still like that for few seconds, in each other's warm embrace.

After they separated, Ace heard Luffy's stomach growl, "HAHAHAHA....yup, still my same little Luffy...." he looked at the owner, "Oi boss, bring your best dishes for my brother..." he gave Luffy a one arm hug, "Today's meal on me." The owner and the other occupants were not only stunned at what just happened but were also sweating bullets at seeing two high bounty pirates are actually bothers. The owner just nodded shakily and soon brought huge amount of food and placed them on the table, "E--Enjoy y-your food..."

While Luffy was eating and talking with Ace, Smoker who was slammed into the wall has recovered and heard the conversation between Ace and Luffy, 'Damn!! Who would have thought that the Second Division Commander of Whitebeard pirates and the Captain of the Strawhat pirates are both brothers.... This is not good!! I need to report this to the headquarters.'

In the outskirts of the port city Nanohana, "Oh, how lovely~! This is just the kind of thing I like!" stated Nami, now wearing a pink-colored desert outfit. "Sorry if I sound like I'm complaining after making you go out and buy clothes Sanji, but.... these dresses make us look more like exotic dancers than inconspicuous civilians...." said Vivi in her lime green dress. "Oh, it's all fine, isn't it? Aren't dancer's civilians as well? As long as we don't look like pirates and you don't look like a princess, it's all good, right?" remarked Sanji with hearts for eyes and a single drop of blood leaking from his nose.

He then looked at Zoro and Ussop, who were eating food which they bought, "But compared to the 2 lovely ladies, the rest of you guys are just...you might be trying to hide that fact that your pirates, but those outfits make you look like bandits!" Zoro just looked at him with unamused look, "How're we any different from you?" Sanji's eyes twitch but then he looked at Chopper, "Hm? What's wrong, Chopper?" Chopper was covering his nose and rolling on the ground, "My nose feels like it's tearing apart...." "Is that so? Your nose must be quite sensitive, Chopper. Nanohana is also famous for its perfumes." "Perfumes?"

Zoro picked up Chopper and placed him near himself, "There, it's all fine..." Chopper nodded, "Thanks Zoro." to which the said swordsman grunted in affirmation, "In any case, we now have all the supplies we need to cross the Alabasta desert...So princess, where do we head from here?" "Well...first, we have to stop the rebel forces! I can't predict when they'll start rampaging and needlessly shedding blood. So, we'll head over to the oasis town called Yuba, which is being used as the base of operation by the rebel forces. And to go to Yuba, we--" but suddenly Zoro and Sanji pushed everyone down, "Get down!!" "What is it?" asked Nami, "Marines. What're they doing here...!?" "It's no time for that, lets go back to the ship before they find us." Stated Nami and everyone nodded at that and with that they return back to the ship only to find their captain was already on it with one another person.

"Yo, you guys are back!!" waved Luffy and after everyone was on the ship, Luffy introduced his brother, "Guys, this is my brother, Portgas D Ace…." The crew's eyes widen at that, "WAIT, BROTHER!?" "Yeah, he's my older brother." Ace sighed at his little brother, and then walks forward and gave a 90-degree bow to the crew, "Thanks for taking care of my trouble-some little brother." Everyone was shocked at seeing how polite Ace is and they couldn't figure out just how he and Luffy are brothers, "Yes, he really is quite a handful." Zoro and Ussop bowed too.

"Oi Sanji, make some quick snack for us…." "Aye-Aye, Cap…" with that they all settled down near Ace and Luffy, "So what're you doing here in this country?" asked Luffy, "Hm? Did you not get my message at Drum Island? Ah whatever. It's not too important. I'm just glad I met up with you." Said Ace while he patted Luffy's back, "I've been sailing the seas around here, while searching for a man named Teach, he is also gone by moniker 'Blackbeard'." Ace clenched his fist tightly and greeted his teeth, "That fat bastard did something which can not be forgiven…" everyone was surprised to see such an emotion from a polite man.

"If I'm not prying too much, then what did he do!??" Zoro asked, to which Ace looked at the clouds and with a straight face answered, "He is a 'Nakama-killer'…. he killed one of us in cold blood, just for a mere Devil fruit." Nami and Vivi were horrified hearing that while Ussop's and Chopper's eyes widen, Zoro looked at Ace, "Then that's not normal…" "Huh!?" Everyone looked at him in confusion, "Look, I'm not the brains, but if someone this close kills someone over something, then that something must be unique." At that, something clicked in Ussop, "I get it!!! As Ace said that that this Teach guy killed his own crewmate over a mere devil fruit, then that devil fruit must a powerful one."

Ace just blinked at that revelation, "But if that is true, then he could have asked…why go for a kill!!?" This is it, this what Luffy wanted all along…. a chance, "Ace, just what kind of Devil fruit was that??" Ace got into thinking pose, "Hmmm…. I think Thatch said that, it's the Dark-Dark fruit…or something like that." "That's it, I now understand why he wanted that devil fruit!! Ace, the Dark-Dark fruit gives its user the power to nullify any and all devil fruit power in the world." "Which means, it's Haki or a sea-stone in Devil fruit form." Stated Zoro.

Ace eyes widen, "Wait wait wait…. how in the world you know all this!!??" he pointed at Luffy, "Just what had happened after I left!??" "Ace, it's not time for that, if that guys really have a Dark-Dark fruit, then any devil fruit user will have a huge disadvantage in close combat unless you only use Haki." Hearing his brother's words, Ace was in predicament, the danger of the devil fruit which Teach has stolen but at the same time, that bastard has killed one of his crewmates, which he can't let slide. "Luffy, I understand what you're saying…but I can't let him go." "But Ace—" "I will be careful…now that I know about everything, I promise to be on guard."

Luffy sighed in resignation and just nodded, finally Sanji came back with snacks and everyone enjoyed it. Ace even asked him to join Whitebeard pirates but, Luffy clearly refuses to which Ace just laughed and said that he somewhat already knew the answer. With everything done, Ace stood up to leave but before that, he gave his Vivre card to Luffy, "Here, I wanted to give you this." He then looked at the rest of the crew, "I'm sure the rest of you have your hands full trying to take care of him. But I hope you'll continue to take care of him well…" the crew smiled at those words and just nodded.

Just as Ace was about to leave, Luffy stopped him, "Ace, I wanted to tell you something…" "Hmm!?? What is it, Lu!??" Luffy took a deep breath and looked straight into his brother's eyes and smiled, "Sabo is alive…."