Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In an universe in which Gol D. Roger didn't die of his illness, not much changes really.

He still makes an announcement that whoever finds his treasure may have it. The Great Pirate Age begins, and many souls venture towards the Grand Line in hopes of either finding the legendary treasure One Piece or defeating Gold Roger and laying  claim to his title as King of the Pirates.

The World Government isn't pleased, trying their hardest to get rid of the threat Roger and his men pose. Yet in the end, they are forced to stop pursuing him. He seems to have no desire to share his forbidden knowledge with the world, so they have no choice but to let him be for the time being.

In a way everything proceeds more or less the same as it would have if he died.

That is, until a certain red-haired pirate decides to pay a visit to his old crew…

The Roger pirates were currently relaxing in Shakky's bar with Shanks and his crew.

They had to admit seeing Shanks, now a young man with a crew of his own and worth quite a hefty sum, made them feel rather old.

They still remember the little boy who would run around the deck with Buggy, laughing and fighting over the silliest things with his friend. Some of the pirates still wonder whether the two ever managed to figure out which pole is colder.

As such, the older pirates never stopped fussing over him, especially now that the Redhead had walked in an arm short.

“I made a gamble.”

The old pirates were baffled at his statement. What sort of gamble did Shanks make that could possibly be worth his sword arm?

“It was about Joyboy, I think I found him.”

Silence.

All the pirates of Roger's crew knew about Joyboy. That sometime soon he would return and a major war between the strongest forces of this world would begin.

The captain was the first to regain his composure following Shanks words. With a sharp glint in his eyes and a devious grin on his face he leaned forwards to ask Shanks something.

"Oh, did you, now?" What makes you think that?”

And so the young man started his tale of Foosha village. About a boy who loved to have fun and adventures. Who had dreams far too big for someone his size and desired to be the freest in the world.Who somehow managed to eat a legendary devil fruit,worth billions to the World Government, entirely by accident.

Once Shanks had finished his story he picked up his glass and drank it all in one go.He hadn't stopped once to catch his breath ever since he started talking and everyone could see just how much the man adored this child.

“In hindsight it was stupid of us to take the fruit into the bar knowing how big his appetite is but after a while I realized that maybe it wasn't dumb luck that convinced us to take it with us.”

“You believe the fruit chooses the kid?” Rayleigh asked, still not quite believing all of this happened to Shanks during his trip to the calmest of all blues.

Shanks nodded.

“Luffy was pretty down when I told him that he could no longer swim, but he was still rather excited about his new powers. I'm sure he'll figure out a way to use them for fights.”

Roger merely laughed.

Finding out that Garp's son had left the Marines to start a Revolution was pretty amusing but hearing about his grandson wanting to be the next Pirate King really took the cake. He could only imagine the different shades of red Garp’s face took on whenever the kid would make such an outrageous proclamation.

The boy would certainly take the world by storm once he was old enough to sail by himself.

Roger knew that he still had some years left in him. He wouldn’t bite the bucket anytime soon. But he also knew he wasn’t the youngest anymore. Luffy wouldn’t set sail anytime soon and who knows how long it’d take for him to challenge the World Government?

So once Shanks left with his men and most of his own men were sleeping soundly spread around the bar, the pirate king turned to his first mate and spoke, mischief filling his voice.

“Hey Rayleigh, how about we go for a vacation in the East Blue?”

Chapter Text

Over the years Rayleigh had put up with numerous of Roger's idiotic ideas and whims. Finding quick solutions to whatever trouble they had found themselves in, was like second nature to the first mate at this point. Even now at their advanced age, his captain could not seem to resist the urge to cause them trouble.

Going all the way to the East Blue to bother Garp's grandson was a terrible idea. If he caught them anywhere near his home island, he would make sure to hound them for months. As entertaining as having the occasional fight with the marine was, he did NOT want the man tailing them over an extended period of time. There is no bigger pain in the ass than dealing with an angry Garp. Poor Shanks could attest to that during his last visit at Shakky's bar.

Thankfully, coming up with a plan hadn't been too hard this time around. The Roger Pirates would first dock in Logue Town. It was Roger's hometown and therefore wouldn't attract too much attention from Garp. The locals there also knew that the World Government made Roger out to be a bigger threat to them than he actually was and wouldn't panic too much about his visit.

Once they departed from Logue Town they would go under the radar for a while. There were a couple of small uninhabited islands spread throughout the East Blue that would serve the pirates as a good hiding spot. The marines in East Blue were easy enough to avoid from there on. Despite his large bounty, Shanks frequented Dawn Island for an entire year before Garp caught onto the fact that the Redhead was the reason his grandson wanted to become the next Pirate King all of a sudden. So long as they were careful and stealthy no one will realize they were sticking around the East Blue for the moment.

Since taking the Oro Jackson to Dawn itself was out of the question, an unassuming rowboat would have to do.

Unfortunately, trouble arose once more when it was time to embark.

"You can't be serious about going there on your own."

"Too many of us would attract too much attention, Ray."

"You hardly ever needed our help in getting the local authorities attention before Roger!"

"The kid lives in a tiny village surrounded by forest Ray."

"And knowing you, that entire little village will know you are there within the hour."

"I promise to stick to the forest edges. I will not go into the village."

"Even the bar?"

"Even the bar." Roger said and raised his hand.

Rayleigh sighed. There really was no reasoning with the man sometimes. But if there was one thing he had learned during his time with Roger, it's that sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. Hopefully he just wouldn't return with any unpleasant surprises in tow this time.

From the maps and intel they acquired in Logue Town, the pirates knew that aside from High Town, where all the snobby nobles of Goa lived, Dawn Island was also well known for its dangerous jungles.

It was one of the few islands outside of the Grand Line that had such an abnormal and highly lethal fauna, which made it the ideal hiding spot for an infamous pirate such as Roger. No sane person would dare venture in there, meaning his chances of being spotted by fellow humans were near zero.

The journey from the unnamed island where the Oro Jackson anchored towards Dawn Island had been harsher than the captain had anticipated, as a raging storm had began halfway to Dawn. It hadn't been anywhere close to the likes of a Grand Line storm but that didn't make it any less inconvenient.

The rowboat was in a terrible state by the time Roger reached the shore and he knew he'd have too either fix it or acquire a new one and risk being seen and recognized.

At least the storm had been over by the time he reached the shore.

The jungle of Dawn Island was truly impressive.

Most trees were enormous and so were the animals. The biodiversity was high and Roger was certain that he didn't recognize a majority of the native plants growing here. 

He made sure to stir away from the small human settlement he could feel up the mountain. The humans living up there were most likely mountain bandits. There was no need to go pick a fight with those.

This environment had prompted him to think about his old rival. Had Garp grown up around this forest? It would certainly explain part of the man's monstrous nature. Roger recalled his first meeting with the marine all these years ago. There was something more feral about the way he held himself back then. He'd seize Roger up as if he was prey to be devoured whenever they met. Who would have thought that this crazed version he has come to know over the past decades was the mellowed out one?

The man was so deep in thought while walking, that he had almost missed out on the fact that there was a tree house in front of him.

The odd sight made him raise an eyebrow. It was obvious that the tree house belonged to children but who in their right mind would let children play around this place? 

He shrugged. Garp most-likely grew up in these woods so maybe this place was some sort of hotspot for feral children.

After leaving the tree home, the pirate wandered towards the kingdom.

He didn't plan to actually enter Goa's walls, just check how far the forest reached. The cloak he wore, hang low enough to obscure his face, so hopefully no one would recognize him even if they caught a glimpse of his shadow.

The sight he was greeted with upon reaching the forest's edges was…unpleasant to say the least.

A stinking trash heap full of unwanted objects and people. Roger wasn't surprised. While the nobles in this country enjoyed their extravagant life up in their mansions, the rest were left to fend for themselves, meaning those who couldn't pull themselves through the ranks landed in the trash.

Most people here wore dirty rags and were thin. They were full of mistrust and glares, the smallest mistake being enough to trigger a confrontation. In his short time observing them from behind the trees, he had already witnessed at least two stabbings.

He decided to turn around for now and retreat into the forest when suddenly, he heard the voices of children yelling.

A bunch of pirates, some strangely dressed men and a noble were surrounding three boys.

Against his better judgement , Roger discretely tried to get closer.Ray would tear him a new one if he got caught here but something about the nature of the situation intrigued him.

He strained his ears and tried his best to listen in on the conversation. The blond boy who was dressed in ragged noble clothes and wore a top hat must be the noble's son, going by the topic.

He felt bad for the kid. The boy was clearly a runaway that disliked his family's way of life. It was rare to see a noble acknowledge how rotten his kind could be, especially someone so young. To think this boy would rather go through the hardships of living in this dump over having a comfortable bed to sleep in at night, clean clothes and 3 warm meals every day.

By the looks of it the kid agreed to go back with his father, so long as the two other boys remained safe. The two boys were screaming and shouting at the blond leaving with the nobleman but to no avail.

The remaining pirates where about to drag the two remaining boys off to their headquarters when Roger noticed something about the younger boy.

There was a straw hat on his back, one that looked an awfully lot like the one his former cabin boy used to wear.

Silently, Roger sent out a wave of Conqueror's Haki, which spread all over the Gray Terminal. 

It wasn't very powerful, he had to restraint himself from letting it spread too far after all, but it was still powerful enough to knock most of the men harassing the boys outs . 

The lowlife pirates all succumbed to it, except for their captain, who must possess at least a tad more willpower than his subordinates. He was still shaking pretty badly however, which gave one of the brats the opportunity to pick up a pipe and strike him down.

Soon enough the blond boy came running back from where the other adults collapsed and the three boys escaped into the forest.

Now that was interesting. The boys seemed to be fast and have quite some strength in them going by what he just saw. Did the treehouse in this monster-infested jungle belong to them?

Roger couldn't help but grin in excitement.

He had found Shanks' special boy.

Chapter Text

Sabo's day has been…exhausting.

It had started out pretty alright. They woke up early, ate some breakfast that consisted of various fruits and nuts he had hidden away from Luffy’s grubby hands, and then headed towards the Gray Terminal to find materials for their tree house.

Then his father came for him.

For a moment he thought it was over. He would be forced back to High Town, leaving his brothers behind and being subjected to a miserable existence as a noble.

But just as they were leaving a wave of something powerful washed over him. He didn't know what it was or where it came from but it had knocked every guard out and his father on his ass.

The man in question was trembling and judging by the dark spot on his pants, he even pissed himself.

Normally Sabo would shamelessly laugh about something like this happening to his asshole of a father but right now he was too busy trying to comprehend what happened.

Had his brothers been affected? Are they ok? Sabo choose to ignore the shouts of the trembling man behind him and dashed back towards Ace and Luffy.

Strangely enough, the pirates were all out cold leaving only his brothers standing.

Apparently Bluejam was the only one who hadn't succumbed to the strange shockwave but he had been startled enough for Ace to catch him off guard and knock him out with a good swing of his pipe.

The three of them quickly retreated into the forest.

Ace and Luffy were in a way better mood now but the same couldn't be said for Sabo.

His father knew for sure that he was alive now. He would come back looking for him eventually. What would he do now? Were the Bluejam pirates aware of the fact that they lived in the jungle? Would they come here looking for him? They couldn’t just hide this out forever.

He wasn't even aware of the fact that someone had approached them, not until Ace put up his pipe and warned the intruder to stay away.

Sabo's heart rate picked up significantly. Had the pirates tracked them down here already?

Both Ace and Luffy stood protectively in front of Sabo as a hooded figure approached.

The tall man lowered his hood, allowing the brothers to get a better look at him. He possessed black graying hair which reached up to the nape of his neck .His face was full of wrinkles but his eyes were sharp, indicating that he might be old but not to be underestimated. The most notable feature on his face was a moustache that resembled a certain pirate's awfully closely.

The man in front of them looked like the spitting image of the man on Gold Roger's bounty.

Sabo started choking on air.

It wasn't even lunchtime yet.

~~~

Roger didn't let the boys' shock faze him. He was used to most people shaking in their boots, at his sight. Rather than saying anything, he decided to take the silence as his chance to observe them.

The blond noble boy, who stood behind his protective friends, looked close to having a heart attack. He couldn't blame the poor kid. He probably had a rough day and him popping up here didn't help with the stress.

The taller boy in front of him, who was most likely their leader, had raven hair and freckles all over his face. He was currently glaring daggers at him. A protective and bold one it seems. It takes quite some guts for people to look at him like that. The fact that he is just a kid makes it more impressive. For some reason he looked familiar but Roger couldn't place why.

Finally he looked at the reason for his visit to this island. The boy, Luffy, looks exactly like Shanks had described him. Black hair, round face and eyes and a crescent scar below his left eye. Unlike his friends who looked like they were ready to bolt any minute now, the boy was clearly intrigued by the man's appearance.

He could tell that the kid was just itching to come down from the tree and ask him something. This would certainly be a fun day.

Freckles eventually raised his pipe and started speaking again.

“You can't have Sabo. This is our turf, if you come any closer we'll kill you. ”

Roger whistled. The kid is even bolder then he initially assumed. He simply waved him off.

“If I wanted to steal your blond friend over there, I wouldn't have helped you three earlier.”

Freckles' brows furrowed and Roger couldn't help but chuckle.

“What you felt earlier was me, I had everyone pass out so that you could escape.”

Blondies and Freckles eyes widened while Luffy stared in awe.

For a moment the two older boys looked at each other sceptically. They didn't believe him, did they? Well it's not like he can blame them. If he was an unassuming civilian and a suspicious stranger showed up at his front door claiming to have mystery powers that make people pass out he wouldn't believe them either.

So in order to make them believe he used his Haki again. A powerful wave washed over the surrounding forest. He made sure this one was a little less potent than the previous one, but that didn't stop various animals from dropping from the trees as if they had died on the spot.

The boys jaws drop wide open.Now they looked a little more convinced.

“How'd you do that?” Luffy asks, clearly excited now.

“That's a secret.”

The boy started pouting. It was really cute and reminded Roger of when Shanks and Buggy were younger. Now both of them were pirate captains themselves and he hardly got to see them. Perhaps that's what compelled him to come here aside from his own curiosity.

“By the way, who are you?” Straw Hat had asked with a finger in his nose.

The two other boys turned and stared at him in disbelief, too shocked to process what he just asked. How did one not know what the Pirate King looked like?

Roger couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh at that. Even children as young as 4 knew to recognize his face and fear him, but this kid who wanted to be next pirate king, didn't even recognize the current one. Did Shanks never tell the kid anything about him? He'd have to give his brat an earful for that one the next time they meet.

“My name is Roger, I'm a pirate.”

That seemed to finally get a reaction out of the kid ,albeit not the one children usually had.

“Roger? Like the pirate king? Are you the pirate king? That'd be so cool! Are you here on an adventure? Do you have any cool stories?”

Roger wanted to say yes, he had tons of things he'd love to tell the kid but freckles and blondie took this moment as their cue to wake up from their trance and put their hands in front of his mouth.

“Shut up! Do you want us to get killed!” blondie yelled.

Luffy did not appreciate being shut up and pulled the hands of his mouth.

“But he said he helped us! Why would he kill us?”

“Don't believe everything some stranger tells you, you idiot I bet he wants something shady from us!” Freckles hissed.

Suddenly Roger was forgotten as the boys argued amongst themselves. It was rather amusing given how panicked they had been less then 30 seconds ago. He was starting to take a liking to the 2 other boys too now.

An idea popped into his head.

“Since you three live here, how about you show me the best spot to hunt. I'm starving.”

Luffy opened his mouth to answer but the other two quickly shut him up.

“Why should we? For all we know you could backstab us, you are a pirate after all.” Blondie retorts. His voice was full of nervousness but that didn't stop him from staring him down.

“Well you have a point there brat. It's a real shame though.”

He turns around and takes a couple of steps forward.

“And here I thought I could share some stories about my beloved son Shanks over a campfire with you but I suppose you aren't interested. Well see you around.”

He waved and kept walking but before he reached the treeline and disappeared into the jungle, a loud yelping noise could be heard and tiny steps approached him.

Luffy was right in front of him,the stars in his eyes so bright they looked ready to burst.

"You know Shanks?”

Hook,line and sinker.

“Of course,I do!" He was on my ship since he was a baby. He told me quite a bit about his time here in the East Blue. Especially about a certain village on this island.”

The child looked like he was about to explode from joy. The smile on his face reached his eyes and Roger couldn't help but reciprocate it. There was so much he wished to share with this boy.

But before he could say anything else. He realized that the other kids were about to charge him.

The pirate dodged their sloppy attacks easily enough and watched as they protectively placed themselves in front of the younger boy. Looks he'd be spending his time on Dawn with three brats instead of just one.

“So, do you want to help me after all?”

Chapter Text

Ace absolutely didn't trust this guy.

There is no way the actual King of the Pirates would lurk around in these backwater woods right next to an enormous garbage heap. They say he has everything one can desire from wealth to fame and power. A man of his status wouldn't be wasting his time walking around one of East Blue's biggest shitholes.

Yet his face was unmistakable. This man looked exactly like all the pictures of Gold Roger he had seen in the newspapers and if that bizarre shockwave told him anything, he was also strong. He still didn't understand how exactly he had done that. Did he have a devil fruit, like Luffy? Was he cursed? Was he some sort of demon from hell? Whatever it was, it was dangerous.

Naturally, that only served to fuel his mistrust because why would this powerful man come all the way to the East Blue to talk to Luffy of all people???

Ace had been adamantly against interacting with this guy but Luffy of course, insisted that any friend of Shanks had to be a good guy. Especially now that he saved Sabo from his dad. The rubber brain hadn't even considered the possibility that the man had helped them for nefarious reasons.

Unfortunately for Ace, Luffy was persistent today and Sabo seemed to be too out of it from their previous ordeal today to refuse their younger brother at the moment. So reluctantly he decided to allow the man to stick around. He knew that Luffy would find a way to chase after the pirate regardless of whether his brothers refused. He couldn't leave Luffy alone with this guy so might as well let him stick around to keep an eye on him.

If he proved dangerous Ace would strike him down. Pirate King or not, no one hurts his brothers!

Roger and Luffy got along surprisingly well with Luffy showing absolutely no unease towards the giant of a man. Ace and Sabo had to stay by his side and make sure their troublesome little brother didn't get too close to the pirate. Who knows,maybe he'd  snatch Luffy away and use him for ransom.

There had to be a catch to this entire situation, Ace thought. Surely, the Pirate King wouldn't act like this normally. Talking about adventuring with a hyperactive 7 year-old as if he was some ancient story teller relieving his glory days. The way he interacted with Luffy…it had to be an act. Their grandfather was considered a marine hero, wasn’t he? He had heard the term “Roger's rival” thrown around casually in Low town when people talked about his Gramps before. Perhaps the pirate came to kidnap them then? What better leverage than your enemy's grandchildren after all.

Either way he had to get rid of the man somehow. His obnoxious laugh combined with Luffy's was starting to grind on his nerves.

Thankfully he had come up with some great ideas to get rid of the pirate while they walked deeper into the jungle. His first idea,  was to lead the pirate towards the pit traps he and his brothers had made to catch animals. They would ditch him as soon as he fell down the hole.

Yet the man had predicted the location of every trap and sidestepped it. How did he even do that!? He’d have to go with his second plan after all.

He led the man to one particular spot in the forest.

“This is the Tiger Lord's cave. Tigers actually taste great in these mountains. Since you seem so tough, why not go and catch it?” he said while smiling smugly.

Roger looked like enough of a fool to go fight the beast inside the cave which would hopefully lead to him getting eaten. And if not, well it'd give him and Sabo enough time to pick up Luffy and run.

To his continued disappointment though, Roger did not get eaten. One punch is all it took for the most fearsome predator in Dawn's jungle to start meowing like a hurt little kitten.

He had to swallow his awe at how strong the man was. No wonder people said that he rivaled Gramps in terms of strength. The animals of the jungle all had a healthy level of fear when it came to the marine and apparently Roger too now.

Perhaps he hadn't thought these plans out as well as he thought... It made him anxious. If he really wanted to hurt them, who would stop him? Reckless and stubborn as he might be, Ace can tell when he is clearly outmatched. He would always fight for his brothers’ safety if he had to but he knew he wouldn't win.

In the end Roger chose to let the tiger go back into its cave to sulk and they went down the river to catch crocodiles. Luffy continued to cheerfully talk to Roger, ignoring his brother's bubbling unease. Somewhere along the way Sabo had also started to stare at the man with something akin to curiosity and wonder sparkling in his eyes aswell.

Ace grit his teeth.

Luffy falling for the pirate’s charms was unsurprising but Sabo? He expected better from their voice of reason. Now he had to look out for both of them.

Once the crocodile was done roasting, the man decided to fight with Luffy over the meat which only frustrated Ace more.

Why did he act like this? Wasn’t he supposed to be a powerful pirate? Why fight with a kid over mediocre meat on a stick next to a stinky forest swamp?

Maybe he had misjudged the man. Maybe the pirate hadn't been as bad as people made him out to be. Maybe he was just an eccentric and crazy old man like their grandpa.

He shook his head and the thought left as quickly as it had come. As if.

The day finally came to a close and Ace forced his two brothers to head up the treehouse, dragging them by the back of their shirts.

Normally, none of them worried about intruders with all the crafty traps they had put up but with the dangerous pirate nearby, Ace decided he would stay awake and guard their treehouse throughout the night. He had to make sure the pirate wouldn't get any funny ideas while they were asleep.

Sabo was almost taken away from them today and he couldn't allow for this to happen again.

Regrettably, he hadn't accounted for the possibility that he might fall asleep during watch. The next day he woke up to the smell of cooked meat and a drooling Luffy.

The pirate didn't seem to have made any moves last night while they slept, opting to stay at the tree's hunk over the night and prepare breakfast for them.

Ace's face soured.

When he climbed down the tree with his brothers in tow, he had half a mind to shout at the pirate and chase him away with his pipe. Shanks' friend be damned, he couldn’t trust this guy. But Luffy was thrilled at the prospect of meat for breakfast and his own stomach was growling at the sight of roasted deer meat so Ace held his tongue.

They ate in silence or as silent as Luffy could be while inhaling food. The pirate king, once again seemed quite amused by Luffy and his antics.

Ace still refused to be fooled by his act. He knew that the man was after Garp. He expected the pirate to start questioning them any minute now. He'd make casual small talk and mention his adventures again, only to then try and sneakily get information about the old man out of them in return. The moment they’d slip he'd strike. It would happen any moment now. To his surprise though, Roger ended up asking something entirely unexpected.

“Tell me about your dreams!”

Ace stared.

Why the hell would he care about some filthy jungle kids' childish dreams now?

Of course Luffy immediately opened his mouth and started talking about being the next pirate king and finding the One Piece.

Roger took no offense to Luffy's exclamation of “I'll kick your ass when I'm older ” and Ace isn't surprised about the man's joyful laughter in response at this point. Luffy was a brat but that only seemed to amuse Roger rather then irritate him for some reason.

What did surprise him however was the dream Roger shared in return with them. It had been the same dream Luffy had proclaimed on the cliff of Dawn Island all those months back. The one he wanted to fulfil after becoming the next Pirate King.

Sabo who was sitting next to him seemed just as surprised about the man's exclamation.

Ace never doubted that Luffy would one day become the Pirate King. If his stubborn little brother said he would become king then he would, no ifs and buts.

He couldn't say the same about his brother's other dream however… It was an impossible dream that felt too childish to ever become a reality. Yet for some reason it seemed to fit Luffy perfectly to proclaim something like that. Seeing an old man, one who was a pirate amongst pirates, say the same thing was quite the shock. Surely Roger gave off an immature first impression but this was ridiculous even for him.

Ace didn't know what to say, which seemed to suit the pirate just fine. He was entirely focused on Luffy, whose smile got even wider than he previously thought possible.

It made him wonder about some things. Was this the real reason he came here? Because Luffy was the only other person who thought this was possible? Would Luffy grow up to be like this man one day?

He might have misjudged the type of person Roger was quite a bit after all…

“Our training?” all three boys questioned looking up to him.

Roger chuckled. For a bunch of feral forest children they sure looked adorable.

Over the past day he had managed to learn quite a bit about the boys. Apparently Garp had been so furious about Luffy's exclamation of becoming the next Pirate King, that he had dragged the poor kid up the mountain to live with bandits.

Sometimes he wondered what went on in that man's head. Bandits raising a kid into a marine? One that already wanted to be a pirate? He must have hit that old fool too hard during their last fight.

At least Luffy seems content with his current situation so who was he to judge? Being dragged up here is how he met his older brothers after all.

From what he had gathered, the blond noble kid's name was Sabo. Luffy didn't outright say how he landed here but he didn't have to. Roger could tell the kid's home sucked and that he had run away because he'd preferred the company of two wild kids over his snobby brethren. The love he held for his brothers was obvious to everyone with eyes.

The second brother was the raven haired boy with freckles whose name was Ace. He couldn’t help but be reminded of his beloved blade upon hearing that name. He’d probably name his son Ace too if he had one.

Ace had been living with the bandits since before Luffy came around. Luffy doesn't seem to know why Ace was here. It made Roger question Garp again for a moment. Why would Garp leave his grandsons separated? But once again the inner mechanisms of Garp's mind eluded him.

Ace had been glaring at him for a majority of the last day. His pipe was always at his side, ready to strike. He was fiercely protective of what's his. At least the harshness of his expression lessened significantly today.One step foward he supposed.

Roger smiled to himself. Luffy had found himself some good brothers.

One day they would set out and become great pirates in their own right. But they had a long way to go until that day arrived. Maybe he should give them a couple of tips before leaving.

“Yeah! You kids are obviously both agile and strong for your age. I'm sure you've been training a lot!”

Sabo was the first to speak up.

“Well we know we gotta get stronger to become pirates, so we use the jungle as a training ground and fight against the crooks in Edge Town. We also do 100 fights against each other daily to train.” the boy finished with a hint of pride in his voice.

The pirate nodded.

That would certainly be effective. He could tell that the boys would become some of the strongest in the East Blue if they kept this up. Unfortunately the Grand Line is a league of its own. He'll give them something along the way that will help for the monsters waiting there for them.

“Well, how about you three spar with me then?” he said smirking.

Three pairs of eyes widened. Sabo looked nervous at the idea and the grip on Ace's pipe tightened. Only Luffy seemed to have taken the suggestion positively.

"Really?" We get to fight you? "Cool!"

“I know right? I'll even give you an advantage. I'll wear a blindfold while fighting you.”

Roger pulled out an orange bandana and went to tie it around his eyes.

“How the hell are you gonna know from where we attack with that on your eyes?”

Ace's voice sounded both perplexed and annoyed at the insinuation that the man could beat them with his eyes closed.

Roger's confident smile persisted.

“Well you'll have to attack me to find it out!”

That was all Ace needed to hear to finally put his pipe up and charge at the man. Sabo's cries of “Ace wait!” fell on deaf ears but the boy did register Luffy joining him at his side and Sabo eventually following suit.

Who does this man think he is to imply he could take them blindfolded? How foolish of him, this was just the chance he has been waiting for to finish him off.

Ace went for a frontal attack but the man easily sidestepped him. ’Just a lucky guess‘ Ace told himself. Yet when he dodged an attack by Sabo from behind, Ace considered the possibility that he might know from where they were attacking without using his eyes.

Luffy then decided that it was his turn to charge at Roger and threw out his Gum-Gum-Pistol. Unsurprisingly, his punch completely missed Roger. Surprisingly however, Roger's arm shot out to grab Luffy's. Luffy yelped as his rubber body was sent flying towards Roger. As soon as Luffy's body reached him, the man made half a turn and released Luffy, who flew straight into Ace. Ace was caught off guard and couldn't dodge in time and the two of them ended up embedded into the tree behind them.

"Ace!" Luffy! "Are you alright?”

Sabo immediately ran up to his brothers to help them out. He knew from the start that this was a bad idea but did his brothers ever listen to him?

Luffy seemed fine due to his rubber body. Ace needed a moment longer to get up but seemed otherwise fine as well.

“Tzz. Looks like we'll have to work together to defeat this guy. Luffy prepare a rocket and wait for our signal. Sabo, help me with the attack.”

Ace received two determined nods.

Ace and Sabo rushed at the man again but this time they attacked simultaneously with Ace going for his head and Sabo going for the legs. Roger dodged again but that didn't deter the boys. Over the next minute they continued to try and strike the man down relentlessly, waiting for their youngest brother to get in position.

Once Luffy was ready and Roger was where they wanted him to be, Ace yelled “Do it now!” out towards Luffy's direction. Luffy, who had stretched his arms out to turn himself into a human slingshot, let go of the trees and flew towards the pirate at an incredible speed.

Surely this would be too fast for the man to catch and they'd land a hit on him.

But they were wrong.

In a matter of milliseconds, the man had managed to reach out and grab both Ace's and Sabo's arm and hurl both of them towards the incoming projectile, with the same speed Luffy was flying to them. The 3 boys could only scream in horror as they all crashed into one another and landed on the ground in a heap.

Luffy was once again unaffected but the same couldn't be said about his brothers.

“Ace! Sabo! Please don't die!”

“No one is dying, you stupid crybab- OUCH watch your hand Sabo!”

“How about you take your foot out of my face first Ace! This is all your fault!”

The boys broke out into another argument that only stopped when Roger's loud laugh boomed through the clearing.

“What the hell are you laughing about! Was kicking our ass that funny?” Ace sneered. His face was slightly red but if anyone noticed, no one commented on it.

“Nothing of the sort, you boys just remind me of my own brats when they were kids. They always managed to get into an argument even at the worst of times.”

“Uh Mr. Roger, how did you predict our attacks with your eyes blindfolded?” Sabo asked.

He wasn't in the mood for one of Ace's temper tantrums with his head still pounding from the collision.

“Good question!" Well you could say that I “felt” them coming. It is something akin to a 6th sense that lets you gouge out your opponent’s soul. You can feel their presence and power and predict their attacks before they strike. It also helps with detecting dangers or stalkers.

“Is this the power of your devil fruit?”

“Nothing of the sort, I've never eaten a devil fruit and I enjoy swimming, thank you very much. It's an ability you have to train.”

That caught all the boys' attention. An ability that allows you to do all that without giving up your ability to swim? They had to figure out how it works at all cost.

“Oh! Oh! Can you train us?” Luffy yelled.

Training with Roger sounded far more fun than Gramps training.

“Well I don't plan to stick around long enough to do that. I have to return to my crew eventually. But I can show you a method to train yourself.”

In the end that had been enough to get the boys all fired up.

Turns out that the “training” Roger had shown them was in fact almost as painful as Garp's. The man had blindfolded them and started hitting them on the back with a stick. The goal had been to dodge at least 100 times.

Needless to say that none of them managed to do that and by the time they were done with training, all boys sported various bruises on their body, even Luffy for some reason.
According to Roger they'd have to continue doing this until they succeeded.

This time Ace didn't even consider staying up guarding the treehouse. He collapsed on the floor along with his brothers as soon as he entered the tree house.

Chapter Text

Despite the fact that the sun had disappeared behind the horizon hours ago, the sky was ablaze.

A huge fire had broken out in Gray Terminal.

Thankfully for Roger, the boys were asleep in their treehouse, too exhausted by their previous training to be woken up by the fire's light. Which means he could go and assess the situation without worrying about them waking up and following him. So long as his hood was covering his face it shouldn't be a problem despite how bright the sky was.

Once there, he concluded that the cause of the fire had definitely not been a mere accident. The man might not be an expert on arson, but he could tell when a fire was set deliberately. He knew that a fire doesn’t spread this much over the course of one or two hours naturally. Furthermore it seemed as if the fire was spread evenly throughout the entire Terminal. There was no recognizable epicentre or origin where the flames were super strong. It's as if the fire had broken out at multiple points at the same time.

The question was why? What does one gain from burning this whole place down? Was the preparator hoping to lure someone out? Was this supposed to be a message? The noble from yesterday sprang to mind but if he truly wanted the boy back he wouldn't just order the entire Terminal to be burned down. That'd be akin to ordering the boy's execution.

Screams were coming from within the fire. Voices from men, women, children, infants, the elderly, sick and animals all blurred together. If Roger was a lesser man, he might have gotten sick at the sight of it. But Roger had been around the world and seen quite a lot devastation. It was nothing he hadn't witnessed before.

The pirate shook his head. He had come here to make sure the fire wouldn't reach the jungle and not to swell in bad memories.

Despite how enormous the fire was, he was sure that the forest wouldn't be affected. There was a gap between the burning trash and the trees of the jungle in which nothing existed. So long as the wind didn't suddenly turn directions, nothing would happen.

Satisfied with his assessment Roger turned back only to realize that there were other presences nearby.

The weak pirates that attacked the boys yesterday were back. Were they trying to escape the fire? Didn't they have a ship? What business do they have in this trash heap? Are they responsible for the fires?

‘It's a possibility’ he mused. Perhaps they were mad about yesterday and wanted their revenge. If they acted independently from the noble it might explain why they didn't hold back on the fire in fear of killing Sabo. He was one of their targets.

Either way, Roger would be getting his answers soon enough.

Sneaking up on them was child's play. Defeating them was even easier. A few good punches is all it took to take most of them out. He could have used his haki to make it faster but where would the fun in that be? They deserved a good beating for what they did to the kids anyways. Besides, the boys would probably feel his haki and he didn't want to accidentally wake them and make them come here.

The captain, whose name was Bluejam, turned out to be just a tiny bit less pathetic and weak than the rest of his men. Roger couldn't help but scoff at that. Pirates nowadays were so underwhelming…Perhaps announcing that his treasure was up for grabs so early had been a bad decision after all.

“So Bluejam was it? I take you and your men are responsible for the fires? Care to explain why?”

Roger had not shown the man his face but he made sure that the man saw his predatory smile. The smile quickly fulfilled its intended purpose, and the lowlife pirate started spilling the beans immediately. Despite his shaking and stuttering, Roger managed to grasp the gist of his story:

As it turns out, Goa was expecting a special guest tomorrow. The king had ordered Gray Terminal to be burned down in order to “remove the kingdom's trash” before their arrival. These lowlife pirates worked for king and came into the forest for two reasons.

For one, the nobles had lied about the pirate's reward. Roger had to restrain himself from laughing at that. These idiots really thought that if they burned the Gray Terminal down for the royal family, they'd become nobles. As if the nobles would ever allow for such a thing to happen.

The second reason had been the brothers. Since the deal with the nobles pretty much blown up in their face, their only other choice to survive the fire, was running into the forest and stealing the boys’ treasure stash. As it turns out the boys were nicknamed “The devil trio of Goa” and were infamous for their pickpocketing within the town. This time Roger couldn't contain his laugh. Of course these spitfires would be notorious criminals already despite their young age.

Bluejam finished his story and started talking about how he'd use Sabo for ransom and strangle him like a doll if his stuck up noble father didn't give him what he wanted.

The amusement finally left Roger's eyes and his gaze darkened.

He might have only come here for Luffy but that didn't mean he'd let this scumbag get a hold of the kid's brothers.

With a swift move, he pulled a pocket knife out his pants and decapitated the kneeling pirate captain. There was no need to use his precious sword on that lowlife.

Roger let out a heavy sigh and headed back to the forest.

He had never been a saint but he still couldn’t understand how these nobles did these things to people without an ounce of shame in their body. It’s as if regular humans were merely cockroaches to them. They really believed that they were better than everyone else and that they could do whatever they wanted as a result. Well in a way it made sense he supposed. No one has ever put them in their place when it came to their believes or behaviour, least of all the marines. No, the marines would happily oblige to any of these scumbags wishes. Quite a few islands perished under the World government’s idea of “justice” after all. For a moment he couldn’t help but think of Baterilla.

He quickly tried to disperse unpleasant memories once more. Such was the price he paid for his freedoms as a pirate. He should know better than to get too close to a civilian. The marines have been sniffing for weakness ever since they started calling him Pirate King and they had unknowingly found it.

He was almost back at the treehouse when he registered a certain presence approaching him from behind.

“Dragon” he stated.

Roger didn't really think much of the brat when he first met him. He was quiet, always wore that stoic look on his face and usually did as told. He was the complete opposite of Garp.

Turns out he had been incredibly wrong when it came to his initial assessment of the boy.

It didn't take long for brat to decide that the marines were corrupt and that he had to disappear. Garp had been furious at his son's sudden disappearance and let his frustrations out on Roger at the time. The pirate never minded a good fight but Garp was a lot less entertaining to fight when he was actually upset. In the following years Dragon's name would be whispered during times of civil unrest and rebellion. In the end Roger realized that the boy liked breaking the rules a lot more than Garp ever did.

Roger had a few ideas as to what reasons the illusive man had to come here. One of them being behind him while the other was ahead of him ,sleeping in a treehouse. He put on his signature smile and turned around. Hopefully the man didn’t think of him as a threat. The last thing he wanted, was to cause a scene after promising Rayleigh to stay out of trouble.

“Dragon! What brings you here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

There was something strange about the way Dragon said that. It wasn't harsh or hostile but strained. Now that the man was in front of him, Roger could tell that his energy was off and his face was hidden by the green hood. As if he was worried that something unwanted could be showing on his face.

Dragon was rather good at masking his presence. By the time Roger had picked up on it, the man had already closed in on him. But as talented as he was, even he couldn't mask himself entirely, at least not from Roger. The pirate could tell that there was some sort of nervousness leaking out of the Revolutionary even if it was ever so small. Was he worried about the boys? Well it was reasonable to worry about your sons hanging out with the Pirate King. Roger half expected a fight or threats from the man when he first realized he was behind him.

“A while ago my former cabin boy came to this island. He told me some interesting things about a certain boy. I just wanted to know if they were true.”

This time Dragon couldn't hide the spike of anxiety in his presence. Was Dragon that worried about him hurting his kids? Surely he enjoyed a rather bad reputation but he hadn't expected Garp to tell his son that every unfounded bad rumor about him was true. He might be a pirate but that doesn't automatically make him some sort of child killer or slaverer. The Revolutionaries should know better than to believe that type of World government propaganda.

He put his hands up in an attempt to diffuse the increasing tension.

“Hey, no need to worry there friend, I got to see what I came for. I'm going to leave the island soon enough. My boat sank on the way here so I'll have to steal a new one. I could probably go to the port and get one tomorrow or the day after.”

“You should reconsider that plan of yours. A Celestial Dragon is coming.” Dragon advised. He seems to have regained his composure rather quickly. What was that about? Was that enough to reassure the Revolutionary?

“Ah so that's the special guest I've heard about…”

The pieces were finally coming together now. The king of Goa was preparing the kingdom for the Celestial Dragon by removing its “shame”. Dragon had caught wind of what would happen and rushed here to try and save as many people as possible from behind the scenes. He hadn't noticed before but he could tell now, that there were less people in the Terminal than when he first arrived to assess the situation. He could feel multiple presences crowded around a couple of other strong presences on the shore, Dragon's allies no doubt.

“I promise I won't cause any trouble while I'm still here.”

“There are several bodies and a decapitated head lying near the entrance of the forest.” Dragon deadpanned.

“Given that they caused these fires, no one will miss those guys. In fact I bet the nobles will be delighted to hear that the captain died.”

Dragon pinched his nose.

Dealing with Roger felt awfully a lot like dealing with his father. No wonder the two always looked forward to butting heads whenever they got a chance too. At least he is certain now that the man means no harm to his son. Still he'd think Roger would be a little more upset at what he had found here on Dawn. Either way he should have expected that Roger wasn't the type of man who'd let his anger out on a little kid just because said kid is related to someone who angered him.

Without exchanging too many more words he bid the man farewell and left. Surely he couldn't cause too much damage in a couple of days.

Chapter Text

Soon after Roger had returned to the tree house, a bunch of mountain bandits had come to check on the boys.

Their presences had been loud and panicked, which had thankfully given Roger plenty of time to hide from view.

The reason as to why Garp thought, that sending his grandsons to live with mountain bandits was a good idea still eluded him. Perhaps it was to hide them. Given who their father was it was plausible. Then again, he might have simply wanted to “toughen” them up. He was hardly one to talk about how to raise kids but Garp always had a tendency to take things way too far.

Well, at least they seemed to care about the boys in their own way.

After an annoyed Ace had assured Dadan, the leader of the bandits, for the 5th time that they were in fact fine they finally left. Fortunately none of the boys had accidentally mentioned him to her.

He'd have to be careful not to get caught by these guys. Garp hadn't taken too kindly to the fact that his grandson was idolizing Shanks now, so who knows what the marine will do if he ever finds out that he came here in order to further his grandson's resolve to become a criminal.

By the time the bandits had left it was almost dawn again. The fire seems to have diminished and the boys had reluctantly agreed to go back to sleep when he asked them to.

Some hours later, Roger had managed to sit them down to explain why the terminal caught fire.

All of them were appalled by the nobles' actions. It was a rather sad sight. Children shouldn't have to be exposed to such cruelty. But that's just how the world worked. Dawn was far from the only country that was rotten to the core. Compared to what Shanks and Buggy had seen at their age it was nothing.

“Uhmm…say Roger-san, what is a Celestial Dragon? You mentioned that one would be arriving here today.” Sabo asked.

The question managed to snap the pirate out of his thoughts. He turned his head towards the three questioning pairs of eyes. Sabo was by far the most curious of the bunch, asking even more questions than Luffy. Luffy usually preferred hearing stories over questioning things. He didn't care to know why the sky was blue or where rainbows came from. He usually just took everything at face value or assumed it was 'magic' at work .

“You are as curious as ever, kid. A long time ago 20 kings came together to form the World Government. The Celestial Dragons are their descendants. They live on the top of the Grand Line in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise. If you ever hear that a Dragon is in the area you should turn around and leave. These guys are nothing but trouble and they have the entire navy backing them.”

Ace scoffs.

“So what?" Can't you just beat them up along with the marines? Aren't you the Pirate King?“

Roger chuckled but it was a humourless sound. Oh the boy has no idea.

“Alright let's say we do that. We attack the Celestial Dragon, we take the Navy down and the World Government gets humiliated in the process. What is their next step?”

Ace furrowed his eyebrows,seemingly thinking about it as hard as he could. For the second time since he met that boy, he felt an odd sense of familiarity emitting from him.

“They increase your bounties?”

Roger hums “Probably but before that they'd wipe out the island this happens on to cover up this embarrassing incident.”

All boys' eyes widen at the same time.

Sabo is the first to recover.

“No way! The navy wouldn't wipe out an entire island just because of a pirate attack. It's not like civilians could do anything about it.”

“It's true that civilians aren't at fault. Unfortunately the World Government doesn't care. They'd step over millions of bodies if it meant protecting the Celestial Dragons and upholding their image. I've seen it with my own eyes once about 26 years ago. An entire kingdom erased not just from existence but history itself.”

The kids went quiet after that revelation. They were finally starting to see the bigger picture of the world they lived in. Perhaps he said too much. This is a heavy topic for kids to be taught about. But then again, they had already first hand experience with the cruelty of nobles. Once they set out to become pirates, they'll see plenty of this corruption and how deep it runs. Hell this wasn't even the tip of the iceberg when it came to the evils of the Celestial Dragons and their shadow leader. Best to let them know what they'll get into once they set sail.

Roger took a good look at all of their reactions. Ace wore his signature frown but it wasn't the usual one, which indicated that he was annoyed or mistrustful. No, instead he looked thoughtful, as if he was trying to process what the man had just said. Sabo looked troubled. He had ‘guilt’ written all over his face. The poor kid was most likely going through an intense wave of self-loathing thanks to his own heritage. Only Luffy wore an expression that could be described as neutral. The pirate had to admit he was impressed by the kid's ability to make himself unreadable. Usually he'd have no qualms showing everyone just what it was that was going through his head at the moment. But in the moment, it was as if he wore a perfect poker face. The more time he spent on this island the more he looked forward to seeing what would become of the boy in the future.

“These World Nobles…they are no different than the people of High Town then, right? They only care about themselves and they are willing to kill a lot of innocent people to further their goal. They'll even laugh about all the pain they inflict.”

Sabo's voice was deflated and his lips were trembling. Roger could already see a tear or two in his eyes.

“When I think about it I can't help feeling ashamed that I was born to these people !”

The pirate captain was once again impressed by the blond. Most children really didn't know better than to imitate their parents. Yet this boy had seen through the cruelty of his parents and his environment, choosing to leave them behind. What determination and will he must possess to choose a life full of dangers and poverty over the comfort and safety of nobility. Surely he'd make a fearsome pirate someday. And yet…

“If you dislike nobles, why not fight them?”

The boy looked up trying to wipe the tears out of his eyes . Luffy had moved to comfort his big brother by wrapping his rubber arms around the older boy, while Ace looked like he was about to scold Sabo any moment now, probably to tell the boy that nothing was his fault or that he shouldn't blame himself for being born to that family.

“There is an organization out there that fights against the injustice caused by nobles and the World Government. They are referred to as the Revolutionary Army. If you join them, you can help prevent what happened in the Grey Terminal in other countries. You could support revolutions to overthrow corrupt kings and defeat slaver scum and war mongers.”

Sabo looked at him with a new found light in his eyes. As if Roger's words opened up a possibility he never even dreamed of being possible.

“Of course you'd probably have to forsake the idea of being a pirate. Still revolutionaries travel the world participating in all sorts of adventures and dangerous missions. If your dream is to write a book about the world you don't necessarily have to be a pirate.”

Sabo contemplated his words. Helping people from nobles and making the world a nicer place in the process sounded amazing. But his brothers want to be pirates and they couldn't be together if he was a revolutionary…

While Sabo couldn't seem to make up his mind on what to say, Luffy and Ace had no such problems.

“I think Sabo should be a revolutionary if he wants to be.” Luffy said with an encouraging smile.

“We probably weren't going to be on the same ship either way, so it doesn't really matter if he is out there as rev or pirate right?” Ace chirped in a small smile creeping up on his face.

“You guys…are you sure about this?”

“Shishishi of course!" Solong as Sabo is free and happy he can be whatever he wants!”

New tears welled up and Sabo started crying for real this time. Ace finally decided that now was the appropriate time to get mad and snapped at the blond for crying, telling him he was acting too much like 'Crybaby Luffy' while the youngest made an offended face and pulled his tongue out.

Roger smiled. Now that that was resolved, he only had to wait out until the situation in the Grey Terminal settled.

He'd miss these kids once he left. They made him quite nostalgic, reminding him back when he had two brats of his own on the Oro Jackson. Time sure flies when you are trying to enjoy life to its fullest.

While the boys picked up on training where they had left off yesterday by themselves, Roger decided to go check on the things in the terminal.

The fires had finally stopped and only the heavy smell of burned trash lingered now. There were Goa soldiers with guns walking around, searching for survivors to kill. It made the pirate grimace. Hopefully Dragon got most of the people there out alive. Surviving being burned alive, only to get gunned down was a horrible fate.

Some of the soldiers even entered the edge of the forest, although why he wasn't sure of. Chasing survivors into the jungle to murder them seemed a little overkill. Perhaps they had found the pirates he left there the day prior?

The bodies there could certainly be a problem but he doubted that the soldiers of Goa would go out of their way to search for the culprit inside the jungle full of dangerous creatures. If anything, finding out the pirates they had tricked were dead must be a delight for the nobles and king.

He'll wait until nightfall and steal a rowboat from Goa's port. His own little boat sadly wasn't salvageable anymore. Even with the Celestial Dragon around, it shouldn't be a problem as long as he was sneaky.

With his plan made up, the pirate headed towards where the boys were training.

Once lunchtime was around, the brothers showed him where they'd usually hunt for bears. He had to admit the variety of meats here was impressive. Soon enough they sat over an open flame with chunks of bear meat in their hands.

Sabo was the first one to stir up a conversation.

“So… when are you going back to your crew?”

“Well since my own boat is unusable, I plan on stealing a rowboat by the docks tonight and setting sail tomorrow.

“And then you'll reunite with your crew and return to the Grand Line?”

“Yep, that's the plan. Our ship is anchored at an uninhabited island nearby. If we stay in the Blue for too long the marines will get antsy and come looking for us. So it's best to leave soon.”

“Why are the marines so obsessed with you guys anyways? Sure you made it around the world but it's not like your presence really screams ‘Danger,torture and death.” Ace asked. Over the course of the past two days he had become a lot less hostile and a little more talkative towards Roger. Not that he talked a lot with the man though, he still didn't trust him yet. But so far he hadn’t given Ace a reason to stay too suspicious of him, and if he was leaving anyways, Ace had even less reason to worry about the man hurting his brothers. It made the boy wonder just what the pirate did to piss the marines off so much.

“Don't get any wrong ideas now kid. I'm a pirate and I've done plenty of things to earn my bounty. But you are right, there is a reason why the marines hate me the most. It's because of “my treasure”.

“Your treasure? What, do the marines want it too?”

“You could say that but it's more so about the message. When I announced that whoever could find it can have it, piracy skyrocketed. It'd make sense that the marines don't like the guy who started the Great Pirate Age, right?”

“I guess that makes sense.” Ace mumbled.

He hadn't thought about it like that before. To the marines Roger was a powerful foe who had turned the world upside down, not throught his strength but mere words. He is a symbol to pirates, one they'd have to get rid of to stop the rampant levels of piracy throughout the world. Even then Ace doubts they'd succeed.

“Aren't you concerned that the marines might come after someone close to you to get back at the pirate king.” Sabo asked next.

Roger hummed. The cheeky brat sure knew how to ask the most uncomfortable questions sometimes.

“There is no need to worry about that.The last person who meant a lot to me died over a decade ago.”

Despite his relatively cheerful face, the man's tone had a hint of sadness in it that was hard to miss. It made Sabo flinch. He supposed that was a sensitive subject he shouldn't have touched upon. Thankfully, Luffy always knew how to stir a conversation into the right direction.

“So the next time we'll see you will be in the Grand Line?”

"Yep!" You kids better train hard until then. I look forward to testing your skills.”

“You bet! I'll find the best nakama and kick Shanks' ass and after I give him his hat back I'll kick your ass next!” Luffy proclaimed proudly.

Roger laughed. Oh he couldn't wait for this hellion of energy to set sail and reach the Grand Line already.

“I have to admit I'm a little surprised he willingly parted with that old thing. He has worn it every day ever since I gave it to him all these years ago.”

The two older boys looked at him in surprise while Luffy gasped loudly at this relevation. Roger only laughed louder and for a moment, the previous heaviness was all but forgotten.

Chapter Text

The night was silent.

With the Celestial Dragon ship docked at the port of Goa, no one wanted to risk disturbing the noble. Most activity had ceased at the docks, to the point where the place looked like it had been abandoned.

Of course, that suited Roger just fine. The less people around, the easier it is to nab one of the little boats for himself.

The port wasn't entirely abandoned however. Guards were still present, to make sure no trouble makers disrupted the World Noble's visit. Fortunately, avoiding them was a piece of cake to an experienced pirate like him.

Roger had considered staying a couple of days at first. Wait for the noble to leave the island before making any moves. But he knew that the longer he waited, the higher the chances that his crew would get anxious, and send someone to check on him. He shook his head. Honestly the lot should have some faith in their captain's stealth abilities.

His crew's concerns aside, the empty docks also made stealing a boat a lot easier. It would be a pain in the ass to sneak around once people started frequenting the pier again.

While creeping around, Roger noticed that most of the guards still seemed to talk about the Terminal fire. Since Roger wasn't interested in listening in on their jokes about the “kingdom’s shame” being burned, he picked up the pace.

He tried his best to blend their vile comments and mocking laughs out, until a particular detail caught his ears.

“The noble brat? We don't know, but there is a high chance he escaped into the forest. We found some of the pirates' corpses at the entrance of the jungle. Someone cut Bluejam's head off, but it could have been the mountain bandits for all we know.”

“Ya think Outlook is willing to pay us, to go looking for the brat in there?”

“Looks like he already is. He has even been thinking about hiring a professional or two to track the brat down. He is also willing to pay whoever gets his hands on the two other brats' heads.”

“ That's awfully generous of someone of his kind, but I get it. What I wouldn't give to see these little devils dead myself.”

“Well maybe we are lucky and the fire got them after all.”

The men laughed, and Roger grew furious once more. Like hell he'd let these scumbags harm the boys. The pirate had half a mind to kill them on the spot but managed to restrain himself.Leaving behind dead guards was the opposite of stealth.

He hadn't managed to overhear any other conversations regarding the boys, but he did notice some guards milling around the jungle's entrance again later, when he returned to the forest with his new boat.

If they were still after the boys, they'd eventually venture deeper into the forest and find them eventually.

He couldn't allow for that to happen.

But where would the boys hide? The mountain bandits were criminals and while he thinks that they'd protect the boys, like Garp ordered them too, the confrontation between them and Goa's soldiers would be ugly. Foosha might endanger the villagers. The safest option was to leave the island all together. They'd never bother to go out of their way to look for them on an entirely different island. Still, taking them with him would only spell trouble. If Rayleigh finds out…

A gunshot pulled him out of his thoughts.

The soldiers had come a little deeper into the jungle, and gunned down a wild bear.

He grimaced.

He'd have to convince them to leave the island as soon as possible.

Luffy was in a sour mood.

He knew Roger was gonna leave eventually, like Shanks had, but that didn’t make saying goodbye any easier.

He'd miss the man's stories about the Grand Line. But it was ok because he still had Ace and Sabo with him. They'd train together to become stronger and once they were 17 , they'd set sail and have a lot of adventures on their own!

And then one day, they'd meet again and fight and afterwards they would all throw a big party!

Luffy was looking forward to the day he would set out, but for now he was content to spend his days in Dawn's forest. He liked training with his brothers even if they always beat him and he loved hunting with them. The thought of hunting made him hungry again. He was going to ask his brothers to hurry up so they could go and catch food when suddenly, he heard leaves rustle behind them.

Roger came out of the bushes but something was odd about him. His smile didn't quite reach his eyes today. Weird.

“Slept well, brats?”

“Yeah, we are good! We were preparing to go get some food. ” Sabo answered cheerfully. He hadn't realized something was off.

“That's good to hear! So what are you planning on catching today? I can help out before I leave if you want.”

“Tz. You just want to stuff yourself with our food before heading off .” Ace sneered.

“You got me there! ” the man replied while laughing.

Luffy noticed that he'd put his hand behind his back and started rubbing his neck.

At first he shrugged it off. He'd do things his brothers considered odd all the time. But over the course of the next hour,he noticed that Roger would subtly do this over and over again. Ace and Sabo didn't notice anything however.

“Are you nervous about something?”

Ace and Sabo stopped and looked at him as if he had just asked another one of his infamously stupid questions. Roger however, was only mildly surprised, before regaining his composure.

“Kid, your observation skills are so sharp it's almost scary. But you are right, there is something that has been bugging me ever since I went to Goa's port last night.I just didn't know how to bring it up yet.”

“Is it about the Celestial Dragon?” Luffy asked.

“No not quite, it's about a different noble. Sabo, do you recognize the name Outlook?”

Suddenly the air was filled with tension and the atmosphere became heavier. Sabo looked like a deer caught in the headlights while Ace and Luffy looked at their brother in alarm.

“Yes. That's…my family name.”

“What does Sabo's shitty family have to do with anything?” Ace snapped.

The boy had gone into full protective mode, putting himself in front of Sabo.

“When I was at the docks I overheard some guards talking about an Outlook. Apparently he's willing to pay for people to go look for Sabo inside the forest. He thinks that you survived the fire and hid here.”

Perhaps the guards hadn't been solely looking for survivors in the terminal's remains. Perhaps they also looked for remains of a certain child. When they found nothing, Outlook might have come to the right conclusion, that his son was in the jungle rather than the terminal at the time of the fire.

The boys’ eyes widened in alarm at Roger's words. Why would the noble do that? Was he that desperate for an ‘ heir’? Would he threaten to kill Ace and Luffy again or just kill them outfront this time?

“If Outlook really decides to have his men take a closer look at the forest, it’s only a matter of time before they find your treehouse.”

For the first time since he had gotten here, Roger was calm and dead serious while speaking. It only made the severity of the situation all the more clear. What were they supposed to do?

“You have two options right now. Your first one is going deeper into the forest to hide and wait this out. But that could take months and depending on who the man sends to track you, they could still find you. The second option is to leave Dawn. ”

Both of these options sounded bad. Hiding and hoping they weren't caught was a huge risk in itself. But setting sail earlier than they initially planned? They were just 11 and 7 still. Where would they go? What if a huge storm sank them or what if they were attacked by sea monsters,like the Lord of the coast? What if pirates got them?

The boys were so engaged in their mental panicking, that they hadn’t even considered the most obvious option. Well, none except Luffy.

“Can we go with you?”

Sabo and Ace turned towards their little brother once again, caught off guard by his question.

Leave the island with the Pirate King? Was he insane? That’d be the opposite of subtle. Afterall everyone knew the fucking Roger pirates. Hell what the hell would Gramps say if he found out that they hitched a ride of the island with his biggest rival. Speaking of rivals, what if this was still a trap? What if the man was lying to lure them onto his ship? But what if he was telling the truth, and Sabo’s bastard father really was after them?

Roger finally gave them a small smile, albeit a strained one this time.

“I was going to suggest that but I can see that your brothers aren’t thrilled by that idea.”

It was understandable that the older boys were still untrusting of him. He was a pirate, who they had only met recently at the end of the day. For all they know, he was doing this out of some ulterior motive. However, he also knew leaving them here was a bad idea, so he had to tackle this situation somewhat gently.

“Tell you what: I’ll wait by the shore for some hours. Let’s say til sunset. You can decide whether you want to join me or not until then, alright?”

Sabo and Ace looked conflicted. Even Luffy seemed to think about the offer, probably having realized that joining the man meant leaving his home island behind. Leaving Makino and the people of Foosha.

“Well then, in case I don’t see you three later, I’ll go ahead and say farewell. I look forward to meeting you boys on the Grand Line once you get a little older. Take care of yourselves, alright?"

This time he received an answer from all boys. Luffy was frantically waving his arm at the man while Sabo yelled a quick “Have a safe trip!” as a response at him. Ace only gave the man a simple nod.

Hopefully they’d come to the beach by sunset. He wouldn’t be able to bear leaving someone he cared about to their fate. Not again.

The boys had been quite on their way to the treehouse, Roger's words looming very heavily over them.

Sabo's dad was still looking for him, and if he sent people into the forest, they'd definitely discover their treehouse.

They couldn't stay here. But was leaving with the man really their best choice? He could be lying. This could all be a trap to lure them onto his ship.

Maybe they could hide this out. Go deep into the forest and wait for Outlook to give up. But what if he was persistent? What if he continued to look for Sabo for months on end or even a whole year? What if Dadan's bandits got caught up in the crossfire? There were so many possible outcomes. Maybe they could leave the island without Roger's help. But what if they got caught in a storm? Sabo knew a little about navigation but it was nothing compared to an experienced sailor. What if they got attacked? A cannon would tear any dinghy they stole apart and Luffy would be screwed, because he can’t swim.

It was an impossible decision. None of them could bring themselves to speak up, not until Sabo came up with a suggestion.

“Maybe..maybe I should go back.”

Two heads immediately whipped towards him in disbelief.

“If I go back he’ll stop searching. He’ll leave you alone.”

“Don’t be ridiculous Sabo! Like hell we’ll let you go back to these shitty people!”

“If I don’t they’ll come looking for us Ace! We can’t hide forever. What if they go deep into the forest and confront the bandits?”

“The old hag might be a lousy bandit but she has enough of a backbone to not sell us out.”

“That’s not the point! I don’t want them to fight my battle. Or you for that matter!”

The ‘I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me.’ had been left unsaid but both brothers had understood the message.

“Well too bad because we are not leaving you dumbass.”

“Ace is right, we can’t let Sabo go back to his stupid evil noble family.” Luffy chirped in.

Sabo groaned. His brothers could be so pig headed sometimes! Didn’t they realize the danger they were in?

“You two aren’t listening! We can’t win here. Not against dozens of armed adults.”

“Then we leave.”

“And go where?" With what boat?”

“As far away as possible! We steal one.”

“We hardly know anything about navigation Ace!”

“What about Roger? he said he’d wait at the shore.” Luffy asked innocently.

Now it was Sabo and Ace’s turn to stare at their younger brother again. It’s true that the man probably knew a lot more about navigation than them. He had to have gotten here somehow afterall. But Ace and Sabo still didn’t quite trust him yet, which is why they barely considered the man's offer to take them along. Just because he had been nice to them here, doesn’t mean he would be as friendly and outgoing on his own ship. He could turn evil and cruel, and take advantage of them. Still, with how strong he was, why put up the nice guy act if he wanted to hurt them? Afterall, who would have found out if he tried to kidnap them from the start? The bandits were too far awsy to hear the trio if they yelled for help and even if they did, Roger was such a monster in terms of strength, they’d be helpless. Maybe…just maybe the man simply wanted to help.

"I trust him.”

“You’d trust every creep who’d offer you candy.” Ace scoffed.

‘He is a good guy! He is Shanks' friend!”

“Do you measure everyone's moral character based on their relationship to Shanks?”

“I didn't have to measure Shanks! He told me how tall he was when I asked him.”

“That's not what I meant you idiot-”

“ENOUGH!!!”

The last thing Sabo needed right now, was one of his brothers’ petty fights on top of their current problem.

“Ace, I think…maybe we should trust him.”

“Are you serious?”

“He is powerful." If he really wanted to hurt us he would have done so when he came here. I think we should give him a chance. It's the safest option.”

Ace took a good look at his brothers. Luffy was determined. He had that look in his eyes that told him that he wouldn't give up no matter what, but Sabo looked…defeated. There were hints of despair and fear in his eyes, and something told the boy that if he didn't act quickly, his brother might actually go out of his way to willingly give himself up to Outlook.

He hated this. He hated these assholes in High Town, he hated what they did to his brother and he hated what they pushed him into doing next.

“Fine…we will go with the pirate.”

With their minds made up, the boys got to work. Sabo pulled out a piece of paper and an old bottle of ink to hastily write a note, while Ace and Luffy made sure to get rid of any pictures they had that could potentially be used for posters of the sort.

Once done, the note had been pinned to the tree, to let everyone know their next course of action. It was best to distract the guards, and make sure they didn't go all the way to Dadan's and cause trouble there.

As the boys left towards the shore, several footsteps reached the treehouse.

Roger sat at the shore watching the sunset. The boys still hadn't shown up and it from the look of it, they wouldn't come at all.

He sighed. He should have known that the two older boys would be too mistrustful to agree to this. Maybe he went about this the wrong way altogether. Perhaps he should have sneaked into HighTown and taken care of this Outlook guy himself. Make it look like an accident or robbery gone wrong.

He was contemplating his next move, when he suddenly picked up on three presences coming towards him.

He smiled. Guess murder was off the table for now.

Within the next 5 minutes, 3 boys were standing in front of him, determination shining in their eyes.

“So, you are coming after all I presume?”

“Yes. If my father is really still after me then staying here is dangerous. So we decided to take our chances with you.”

Roger nodded.

Rayleigh and Garp will be pretty upset with him for this, but he can't say that he cares about that right now. He won't leave these kids’ fate up to luck.

Besides, a pirate always takes what they want.

Chapter Text

The noble slammed his fists onto the expensive mahogany table, making all of its contents shake in the process.

All of his plans lay in ruin, and it was that damn boy's fault.

Outlook III had known for a long time that his son was a failure of a noble. He kept challenging his authority, lacked any respect for their heritage and held a disgusting amount of sympathy for the scum of the lower classes. It hadn't even surprised him when he started sneaking out towards that vile terminal full of human cockroaches back when he was 5. He was a lost cause.

Outlook knew that the boy would only grow up to embarrass his family in the end.

So he had decided to make plans to obtain a new heir and forget about that failure. Stelly was an excellent replacement candidate. A well behaved child that hailed from a very prestigious family. He would have been perfect.The perfect son Sabo never was.

Yet fate had other plans, and another family got a hold of the boy just when Outlook was about to finish the paperwork on his official adoption.

As much as he loathed to admit it, this entire situation was partly his fault. Him and Didit had tried for another child for years after Sabo ran off and they failed miserably. He should have married a more compatible woman of high status or started looking for a replacement sooner, then he wouldn't have had to go chase after that disappointment of a son again in the first place.

Initially, the plan to get Sabo back had gone smoothly. He had found Sabo and blackmailed him into coming home with the help of these filthy Terminal brats.

Then that strange pressure arrived and ruined everything.

By the time the guards and these lousy pirates regained their consciousness, Sabo and the other boys had disappeared behind the forest line. He had to pay for the guards to go look for him AGAIN after the Terminal fire was over and hope that he was still somewhere alive in the jungle instead of a pile of ash in the Terminal's remains.

Just when the guards finally found something, it turns out to be a note in which Sabo declares his intent of leaving the island. Thankfully they were not completely incompetent, and caught onto the fact that the ink was still fresh when they found the note and made their way to the shore just in time to catch sight of a rowboat leaving the island.

Where it was headed to and how many people it held, they couldn't make out with the bare eye, but he was almost certain that Sabo had been on it. Now his sole heir was off to who knows where, and he didn't have the resources to go start a manhunt throughout the entire East Blue.

He sighed.

The situation was truly a mess.

This calls for drastic measures. His resources in Goa were no longer enough to track the boy down. He'd have to resort to a specialist.

Fortunately he knew just the right person to call when it came down to tracking individuals.

Being the first mate on a pirate ship was a lot of responsibility, especially when your captain was acting like an immature manchild rather than a responsible adult most of the time.

So it was Rayleigh's responsibility to do everything his captain didn't feel like doing most of the time, such as assigning chores, logistics, keeping up with their enemies through the news, etc..

Honestly sometimes Roger was such a pain in the ass to deal with. Of course he could be serious and actually act like the damn captain of this ship when the situation demanded so, but most of the time he just dumped most of the work he didn't want to do on Rayleigh.

Currently the blond was once again taking care of his captain's duties because that reckless idiot decided to head to Dawn by himself, to meet Garp's fucking grandson of all people.

The marine will be furious if he finds out Roger is there and immediately rush back to Dawn, to fight with his captain. Rayleigh can see the fight last for at least some hours, until they both inevitably end up throwing out their backs. These two might be monsters but they have to realize they aren't the youngest anymore. He can already see Roger whining at him and Crocus for days about being forced to stay in bed and rest for once.

What a hassle.

Rayleigh was pulled out of his thoughts when one of the men in the crow's nest started shouting about an incoming boat. Rayleigh grabs his telescope and heads to the bow of the ship to check it out for himself. There was indeed a small rowboat with a massive man sitting on it.He was sitting with his back to them but after decades together Rayleigh could recognize that back from anywhere.

He reached out with his Haki to let his captain know that they had spotted him. Roger's presence always managed to put the crew at ease. Ir was strong, comforting and shined like the brightest star in the sky. It almost outshined most the presence of those in his close proximity.

Almost.

A beginner in Haki or someone who didn't know Roger all that well, might be incapable of picking up on all the other signatures surrounding him but Rayleigh was neither of those things. He can easily make out the fact that there were at least 3 other presences on the boat Roger was on right now. 3 young presences.

The veins in his forehead started throbbing again. Coming all the way here to talk to the boy was one thing but abducting him and bringing him to their ship?Along with 2 more kids no less? What the hell was that moron thinking this time?!

The rest of the crew also started extending their haki and quickly realized what got their first mate in such a bad mood all of a sudden. Most wisely decided to step away from the man.

“”I'm going to kill him.”

A hand found itself on his shoulder. It was Gaban's.

“Hey,hey now I know you are upset but maybe we should save that for after we bring the kids back.We can feel your anger leaking out already and the last thing we need is for you to scare the brats he picked up.”

Rayleigh sighed and  tried to calm himself down. Gaban had a point there. Strangling his captain the moment he set foot on the ship would probably make for a rather bad first impression on the kids he kidnapped. He could wait a little longer.

Half an hour later the little rowboat had reached the Oro Jackson and a ladder was thrown over the railing.

Roger climbed back onto his ship with a big grin on his face while 3 boys had followed suit.

The first boy had raven hair, gray eyes and a face full of freckles. He was glaring at the crew and looked wary of them. For some reason the boy looks awfully familiar. Rayleigh brushed the thought aside for a moment.

The second boy was a blond with blue eyes and a missing tooth. His attire looked formal, like that of a noble's but unlike the nobles it was dirty and ripped. He looked just as wary as the first one but rather than openly glaring at the crew he looked intrigued by the ship and its inhabitants.

The third boy was the smallest of the three. He had raven hair like the tallest, dark eyes and a scar under his left eye. He wore an oversized Straw Hat meaning he must be Shanks' anchor. Unlike his friends who seemed cautious, he looked at the ship and crew with open wonder and excitement. It was easy to see why the boy managed to capture Shanks' attention.

Rayleigh schooled his face remembering Gaban's words. He'd get his chance to kill Roger later.

“Rayleigh! Everyone! I hope nothing bad happened while I was gone!”

The crew looked between each other and Rayleigh somewhat nervous. Honestly why did Roger always have to act like nothing is wrong when he fucked up?

“No nothing of note happened here. Rather it seems something happened to you instead.”

Rayleigh wasn't a bad actor by any means. He had swindled plenty of fools with the right words and attitude. But sometimes it was hard to keep his composure, and pretending everything was fine. Staying calm in front of these already mistrusting kids was hard when his captain was pushing all of his buttons.Hopefully he doesn't come off as too threatening.

“Oh yeah well we ran into some issues on Dawn. A Celestial Dragon decided to visit.”

The crew's eyes momentarily widened. Surely he didn't-

As if he read their thoughts, Roger immediately puts up his hands.

“Don't worry!" I didn't do anything! They never even found out I was there! You see, since the Dragon was visiting, the king ordered the area around the kingdom to be burned down despite the fact that there were people living there.”

Roger's gaze darkened with the last sentence. The blond knew his captain wasn't a righteous man by any means but he'd be damned if the man he chose to follow approved of such disgusting behavior.

“After it was done, the guards were checking for survivors. Even beyond the heap and into the surrounding areas like the jungle.“

Rayleigh slowly caught on to what his captain was saying. Bringing the boys here wasn't just a mere whim as he intially thought. Rather it served to keep them away from the fallout of the Wolrd Noble's visit. It was a risky move to take the kids with him, knowing that he'd upset Garp but Rayleigh could somewhat understand the logic behind it. Admittedly he was a little less upset at Roger now. Wasn't Garp taking care of his grandson? Why would these kids be targeted in that attack? Well he was still going to have a thorough talk with his captain later. Roger won't escape his scolding.

“Anyway I think it's time for an introduction! C'mon kids, why don't you tell everyone your names!”

With just two sentences, Roger dispersed the fool mood immediately, and the entire crew's focus returned towards the boys. The straw hat wearing boy jumped forward first. Most could already tell who he was.

“I'm Monkey D. Luffy And I'm gonna be king of the Pirates, so when I grow up I'll kick your captain's butt!”

That got some chuckles out of the crew. The kid certainly had guts. The blond stepped forward next. Unlike the younger boy he looked nervous to be here.

“My name is Sabo, it's a pleasure to meet you.” 

He bowed and the pirates gave him some confused stares. What is a polite kid with such fancy clothes doing here? Sure his clothes were torn and worn meaning he probably wasn't one of these prissy nobles but still, how did he get involved with the captain and the kid? The last boy finally stepped up, glaring at the amassed crowd of pirates.

“The name is Ace.”

Unlike the other boys, this one was neither enthusiastic nor polite.Yet neither of these facts was what the pirates first noticed upon his introduction.

“Ace as in the captain's sword?!?!?” one asked.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Ace asked, frowning instead of glaring now.

“It means our captain gave his sword the same name you have.” another pirate answered somewhat amused by this revelation.

Ace gave Roger a pointed stare. Roger just gave him a sheepish smile. It's not like it was his fault. His Ace had been by his side for decades now, how could he know he'd ever run into someone with the same name as his beloved Meito.

After the boy's short introduction, Roger explained to everyone that the three brothers would temporarily stay with them.

Some members of his crew came forth to introduce themselves but most stayed back, so as to not overwhelm them. The boys stood there carefully observing every person that approached them. Rayleigh couldn't blame them. Suddenly finding yourself on the pirate king's ship would have probably been shocking to anyone.

Except for Luffy apparently.

The boy looked like he had not a single care in the world. He barely even paid attention to some of the introductions. After Rayleigh introduced himself, the only times he paid attention was when Crocus came forward to tell them he was the ship's doctor (“Look!Ace!Sabo! A funny flower man!”) and of course their cook.(Oh he recognized that glint in the boy's eyes. They'd need more locks on the kitchen's fridge and storage room).

Once the introductions were done and the little boat had been retrieved. Roger offered a tour through the ship. The pirates finally dispersed, going about their business. This seems to have been the right choice because the tension in the two older boys immediately eased up a bit. Having an entire pirate crew's attention on you was rather uncomfortable.

Surprisingly enough Luffy understood the ship's layout the best. Since Shanks had spent an entire year in East Blue, the boy probably got to visit the ship plenty of times during their stays to Dawn. The Oro Jackson and Red Force might not be the same ship, but there are only so many differences between a ship's construction and layout. Sabo also had a general idea of where everything was and what meaning certain rooms or areas held. He seemed like a smart kid and Rayleigh was sure that he was the one responsible for keeping his brothers out of trouble. Maybe he should give the kid some tips on that. Ace seemed to know the least about ships but at least the boy had finally stopped with all the glaring and started looking at the ship with just as much awe and wonder as his brothers did.

Finally they had reached the room that would be theirs: an unused guest room with a desk and a big bed. Since the boys were used to sleeping on the dirty ground of their treehouse (Ray had to make a mental note and ask Roger about that one later) they'd have no problem sharing a bed. It hadn't been prepared yet but that wouldn't take more than an hour or two at the end of the day.

“So what do you think?”Roger asked.

The boys all looked at each other as if having a silent conversation amongst themselves. They all turned around and spoke up simultaneously.

“It's a really great ship, sir.”

“It's so cooool!”

“I guess this ship is kind of nice.”

Roger laughed at their reactions. Initially he assumed he wouldn't be seeing them again for a long time to come but here they were, stuck on their ship until they could take them somewhere safer.He was looking forward to getting to know the boys a little better.

“Now, who wants some food?”

Three stomachs growled simultaneously and that was all he needed to hear before turning around and leading them towards the Galley with an already exhausted Rayleigh following.

Chapter Text

The mess hall was huge, reminding Luffy of Makino's bar. It was spacious with several pirates eating, laughing, drinking or playing card games with each other.

He liked it. His brothers seemed a bit apprehensive but the growl of their stomach easily gave them away. They are just as eager to eat as he is after how tiring the past days have been.

Roger led them towards an empty table to sit down, that had plenty of room for at least 10 people. Soon enough the cook whose name Luffy didn't bother to remember, nervously approached the table with two trays in his hands. The plates were full of meat with rice and vegetables, topped with a creamy sauce.

The brothers immediately dug in.

Luffy was the opposite of a picky eater. When he was hungry nothing was safe from his greedy hands, not even live snakes and bugs. Still, despite his ferocious appetite, he had a functional sense of taste. He could tell that the pirate cooks’ food was miles better than the meat they cooked over a firepit in the jungle. It reminded him of Makino's home cooked meals and how she'd always make sure that the meat was the biggest portion on his plate. She would even leave out a glass of juice after he finished eating.

He was so immersed in his food that he didn't even realize that he was having seconds and thirds, and that the empty plates were piling into a tower. The cook had started pulling his hair out and the surrounding pirates all stopped what they were doing to watch the boys.

“Never thought I'd meet someone who could match the captain's appetite…”

“Match? The little one is gonna surpass him in a few years if he keeps going like that!”

“Well to be fair he's made out of rubber…”

“Like that makes it any better!”

By the time Luffy was done with his final plate, the entire hall was murmuring about them.

“What's their deal?” Ace asked. He had been the first to notice the entire room's attention on them and was visibly agitated.

Roger laughed, chugging his beer down while Rayleigh sighed. Without Roger on board, their food supplies didn't shrink much but with these three little black holes on the ship now, that would change soon enough. Especially with Luffy. Leave it to Roger to personally invite the one person who could probably deplete their food supplies faster than him.

“It's rare to find someone who matches our captain's appetite quite as well as you three do, is all.” someone said jokingly.

Truthfully there had been few people who could give his captain a run for their money when it came to eating. Garp for starters. In these rare moments when the two of them weren't fighting each other and chose to be civil, they'd eat together. Granted their idea of “civil” was to steal and fight over food like a bunch of starved feral animals. Big Mom is in an entire league of her own when it comes to eating. Not even the entirety of Elbaf could match her when she was in one of her craving moods. And then there had been her. She'd always compete with the captain over who could finish the most plates and despite her petite size she'd always beat him.

Rayleigh shakes his head. He doesn't want to dwell on the past right now.

The loud noise of a jug hitting the table snapped him out of his thoughts. Looks like Roger had finished his meal and drink as well.

“Ah that was great! I gotta say I missed having food that isn't unseasoned meat for breakfast,lunch and dinner. Hey, Rayleigh, I'll be taking the boys to Crocus, can you prepare a bath in the meantime.”

Rayleigh blinked.

Having a doctor take a look at them and getting them cleaned seemed reasonable… Since when did Roger think ahead? Usually he was the one who had to run after Shanks and Buggy back when they were little brats.

He nodded and got up to head towards the baths. Maybe he should put out the anti flea shampoo as well. If they had actually come from the jungle, who knows what they brought along.

The boys seemed a bit confused as to why they should see a doctor all of a sudden.

“It's not a big deal, Crocus will simply take a look at you and ask some questions. On a ship it's important to know about the crew's medical history. Afterall, what if someone needs a sudden blood transfusion? Can't do that without knowing your patient’s blood type now can you?”

Sabo and Luffy accepted the explanation while Ace only frowned, confused by Roger's argument. As it turns out this was because both Sabo and Luffy had been to a doctor before while Ace had never interacted with a medic in his life.

Luffy had lived in Foosha village up until some months ago and been to a doctor plenty of times before Garp decided to chuck him into the jungle. Sabo had also been to the doctor before but it had been a couple of years since his last visit. Ace on the other hand, had never set foot inside a doctor's office in his life.

Whenever he got sick the bandits would serve him a sorry attempt at soup and when he hurt himself, the First Aid kit would have to do the job. On one occasion, he broke his left arm and Dadan told him to sit down and wait for it to heal by itself. It never healed properly, which is why he is wearing that elbow brace 24/7. The boy didn't even know what a vaccine was.

Needless to say, Crocus was beyond upset. After a long talk on what vaccines are and on how seeking out a doctor for certain injuries and pains is very important, Ace was finally allowed to hop off the medical exam table.

Of course, not before Crocus could give him at least two shots he was certain the boy would absolutely need. The kid had vehemently protested but all it had taken to change his mind was for Sabo to call him a baby for being scared of needles.

Now they were on their way to the bath, with Ace's mood being slightly worse than before, thanks to his aching arms.

He was already regretting agreeing to follow this weirdo to his ship. What does it matter if he had never been to a proper doctor? He has been fine so far and he certainly didn't need this weird vaccine fluid in his blood!

When they arrived Rayleigh had noticed the boy's mood had soured further. It's a good thing he accounted for the fact that the boys might not be thrilled about having to see a doctor and added bubbles to their bath.

Luffy in particular was delighted about this but it was obvious that Ace and Sabo enjoyed this surprise just as much, even if they kept insisting that bubble baths are for babies.

The boys stayed in the bath by themselves for at least an hour by the time Rayleigh knocked on the door.

Call them sappy parents, but they couldn't bring themselves to throw away all of Shanks and Buggy's old stuff. So a lot of things such as toys and clothes remained locked away in chests in the back of their main storage. Their inability to part with their sons’ old belongings finally paid off, because these boys seriously needed a change of clothes. A quick wash and dry with the heat dial was all the old rags needed to be as good as new.

Luffy was thrilled at the thought of wearing Shanks' former clothes. Making the boy happy was truly a piece of cake. By the time they were finished, all of them wore some sort of simple shorts and shirt as makeshift pajamas.

The day was long and probably even more so for the kids, which is why none of them opposed the idea of going to the guest room to sleep.The crew had swiftly cleaned it in the past hours so that it'd be usable.

Once the boys had disappeared behind the door, Rayleigh wasted no time heading for Roger. The crew members that lingered on deck, wisely decided to step out of his way knowing exactly what would follow.

By the time the captain had realized what was going to happen, a hand had already shot out, grabbed him by the ear and dragged him off toward the privacy of his cabin.

“Ow,ow,ow was that really necessary?”

The vein on Rayleigh's forehead started throbbing again. They've been together for over 4 decades and he still acted like some sort of mischievous child that wouldn't look you in the eyes because it knew it was going to get scolded. Well perhaps he should have thought of that before kidnapping the marine hero's grandsons.

“Yes. Now tell me Roger, what on earth possessed you to bring Luffy and his brothers here? Coming to East Blue to meet the kid is one thing but abducting him?”

“I didn't bring him for no reason!”

“I can see that and it's the only reason I haven't tied you upside down
the figurehead yet.”

Roger may act like a fool most of the time but he wouldn't take such a drastic action on a whim. Judging by what little information he shared earlier, there was a story behind the boy's sudden visit.

So Rayleigh listened to his captain's explanation. The man told him the story of three boys living in the jungle on their own. About how their home was a treehouse and their sole guardian seemed to be a bunch of mountain bandits whose only job was to keep the boys more or less alive. About how the boys were strong and had a reputation amongst the crooks and small-time criminals of the island. About a fire that was set to “clean out” the kingdom's “trash” prior to a Celestial Dragon's visit. And lastly about  a noble who tried to get his son back before the fire through highly immoral means. Roger doesn't regret stepping in to help the boys and Rayleigh can't blame him. He would have probably done the same.

“I see now…but we can't stick around for too long Roger. Garp might have heard what happened and rushed back from the GrandLine to check in on his grandsons. Even if you had a good reason to do what you did he won't take too kindly to your actions.”

“Even if he did, he's in the New World right now, isn't he? By the time he makes it back the boys will be safely hidden elsewhere and not on our ship. Besides, he'd have to figure out we were behind their disappearance in the first place.“

“And where the hell do you plan on hiding the boys from that noble? We aren't exactly an inconspicuous crew and Garp will still be pissed and go looking for the culprit. At some point his suspicions will fall on us.”

“Don't worry Ray, we'll just find a way to contact Dragon and tell him what happened. He seemed like a decent guy when I met him there, and with a network like his, he is sure to have somewhere he can hide them. Besides, it will save us the trouble of dealing with Garp.”

For a moment Rayleigh looked both confused and shocked. Roger ran into the Revolutionaries and their leader on Dawn? It took him a minute for everything to click into place. Right, the leader of the Revolutionaries was Garp's son and probably the kids’ father. In hindsight they should have figured that out earlier but they were too preoccupied with Garp and avoiding Marines for that to happen.

He couldn't help but pinch his nose. So much for avoiding detection and trouble on Dawn. At least the plan was solid. Dragon could take the kids somewhere where Sabo's father couldn't reach them and deal with the nuclear fallout that was Garp on his own.

“Alright then…I guess we can take care of a couple of boys for 2 or 3 weeks. But don't think you are off the hook for this stunt just yet.”

Roger merely smiled.

That certainly went better than expected.