"Well, we'll leave that for another time. Maybe we set out independently." Ace walked to the four sake cups on the fresh-cut tree trunk, a huge red bottle in hand."Oh, you stole that from Dadan." exclaimed Luffy "You guys know the rule ? We can become brothers if we exchange this cup of sake." He poured for each of us."Brothers, really?" Luffy exclaimed."When we become pirates, we might not be on the same ship—but our brotherhood will always be with us. Wherever, whenever, we're bonded," Ace said."So from now on… we're brothers!"
Clink.
The red cups met in the middle. Time slowed; the sake smelled sharp and sweet, pine sap sticky on our fingers. Training with them had been pure joy. I swore I'd make it in this world."Yeah!" we yelled in unison.
[DING][LOG] Sworn brotherhood confirmed.
We continued to go into town to beat up gangs and hunt for dinner.Today we brought a lot of venison; it was delicious.We went to bed after some late wrestling between us.
The next day we had surprise guests: the village chief from Windmill Village and Makino.She gave us all new clothes; I got a white tank top with black shorts. She even cooked venison that night; it was the best-tasting food I'd had since coming here.
Outside the building, a 9 ft 5 in man fell into one of the holes we'd dug for the boars.
"When I go out to sea, I want to get a cook on the ship first so I can eat great food like this," Sabo said."I'm gonna become a pirate before you, so forget it," Ace said."You guys are right; we gotta have the best cook on our pirate ship," I said."That's not fair. I'm gonna become a pirate first," Luffy said.
Knuckles cracked behind me. I knew exactly who it was.Every bandit in the building spat their alcohol when Luffy bragged about becoming a pirate first. The room went colder, darker.
"Huh?" Luffy and Ace said together."Uuuh-huh."They turned, faces a shade bluer."You're still saying crap like that?""Ahhhhh!""Can't you understand you should become Marines?!"
Fists of love. Two kids down.
"Dadan.""Yes, Garp-san."Boink."Why did I also get hit?""You're not educating the kids enough."
"Garp… so that's Luffy and Ace's grandpa," Sabo and I whispered, smiling as we edged back."Oh, squirts—going to sea? Pirates too?"We both swallowed the food that was still in our mouths. I felt like I could see the future and it was not rainbows and sunshine."They're not squirts—that's Sabo, and that's Sora. We exchanged cups of sake and pledged to become pirates.""He's got such a big mouth," Ace frowned."Ohhh, so there are four fools who want to give me a real workout," Garp said, veins rising as he cracked his knuckles."HUH—""AHHH—!"
Under a half-moon sky in the forest of Mt. Colubo, the only sounds were our screams and a 9-foot-tall old man crashing through trees. Hundreds fell that night."That's it for today! I'll be harsher tomorrow! You can't drop dead yet!"
[DING][SKILL UP] Physical Resistance — Lv 9 (Proficiency ↑)
A trunk clipped my shoulder—I stayed standing. The skill was doing work."On Dash again—" I tried, lungs burning. My legs buckled. Five-minute lockout. I had to crawl until feeling came back.
[NOTE] Dash: high stamina cost; overuse in this small body triggers 5-minute paralysis.
"If nothing is done, this old man will kill us by tomorrow," Ace whispered."Even if we survive, he'll crush our dream.""I don't want to die!!" Luffy cried."Yeah… my body can't take this training yet," I said. "It'll break.""We have one choice. Make up our minds, brothers."
We left a note: We stand on our own feet."Smart, cheeky brats." Garp sighed. "Vacation's over. I'm leaving."Just like that, a walking legend came and left.
After we escaped, we slept in the rain that night.We drew up a plan to build a hideout.We raided Gray Terminal for supplies and started building on top of a giant tree we found.
After two weeks of building, it was one of the coolest treehouses I had ever seen. We put our flag on top, ASLS painted boldly.For the first time, we each had our futon to sleep on.
[DING][LOG] ASLS flag raised. Hideout established.