Chapter 27: Naguri and Ace.

= Days Later =

"Where did they went?" Rin mumbles to herself while searching for Ace and Sabo.

Few seconds ago Ace and Sabo had their turn on attacking the tiger and right now they are being chased by the tiger.

= Minutes Later =

When Rin founded Ace and Sabo it's already evening.

"That was horrible!" Sabo screamed. "Let's put some poisonous mushrooms in the bait tommorow." Sabo continues. "Oh, wait a minute. He's big but still a member of the cat family... that means catnip might work, huh?" He look at Ace who is not responding at all. "Huh!?!" Sabo look at Rin and with a ' What's wrong with him? ' face. Rin shrug. Annoyed by Ace lack of reaction, Sabo changed the subject. "I wonder how Luffy is doing. It's been a week since he left the hideout. We should've gone to see him by now. You know how he is. Maybe the training is too hard for him and he's crying 'I wanna go home!' No! Maybe he's dead already!"

"You shouldn't say such thing." Rin said calmly.

"Can you blame me. Look at Ace! He didn't even care about Luffy!! Isn't Luffy supposed to be our younger brother!?!" Sabo yelled.

Ace crossed his arms and said "Shut up! I don't care if he's crying or he's dead!!"

Seeing Ace's reaction Sabo scold Ace when suddenly a big tree almost falls down on them. They managed to dodge, of course.

"I'm sorry!"

Ace, Rin and Sabo look towards the voice.

"Are you okay? Sorry!"

It was Luffy.

"Luffy!" Ace and Sabo screamed.

Luffy smiled and screamed "Ace! Sabo! Rin! Long time no see! How've you been?!"

Old man Naguri appeared behind Luffy and invited Ace, Sabo and Rin. The three of them followed Luffy to a place somewhere at Gray Terminal.

Luffy is showing Sabo the result of his training. Luffy missed the target and accidentally hit old man Naguri. Ace questioned Naguri what tips he gave to Luffy. Naguri told Ace that Luffy was only chopping woods with an axe for him.

Ace look at Naguri and asked "Do you... hate him?"

"Hate who?" Naguri asked.

"The guy that beat you..." Ace stated.

"You mean Roger?" Naguri smiled and said "I felt frustrated for sure. But I lost because I wasn't strong enough. I rather feel grateful to him right now."

"To someone who beat you?" Ace asked.

"That's right." Naguri answered. He look into the sky as if reminiscing about something. "He was a man of quite high caliber...." Naguri continues talking to Ace. Ace asked "What if Roger had a son?". Naguri answered what he thought about the matter until Ace suddenly wants to attack Naguri. They had a fight and Ace lost.

"Seriously..." Rin sighed.

Just like canon, Naguri asked them to help him build his ship. Seasons come and go and now it's spring.

' Status. ' Rin said in her mind.

<Status>

Name: Rin

Age: 9

Strength: 23

Stamina: 45

Charisma: 31

Abilities:Cooking (level 1), Herbology (basics), Baking (level 3).

Combat Skills: Bo Staff (level 3), Gun (level 1).

Special Abilities: None

[ status will be updated from time to time ]

'Who would've thought doing heavy labor work is actually a good way to get stronger... but my whole body hurts the first time I helped them carry a log...' Rin thought.

Again just like canon the boys defeated the tiger by working together and Naguri set sail to the sea.