Ace and the… mini Ace...

Chapter 19

Title: Ace and the… mini Ace...

….

Luffy looks at Ace strangely as he sees him bully Benny, even he started feeling sorry for the marine as he is now too tired to even try to hit Ace.

"Bahahahaha… Benny, did you get fat too? You can't even touch me." Laughs Ace goodheartedly, though that seems to annoy Marine Captain Benny even more and he gets reenergized as he tries to punch Ace again.

….

….

One hour later and Luffy is sitting down with Ace and Sabo as they look at the people. Benny was on the ground breathing heavily,  too tired to even talk anymore. His subordinates had already gone and started celebrating.

Luffy looks at the marines and asks. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"Bahaha, don't worry about him Luffy." Says Ace casually, putting an arm around Luffy's shoulder. "Now, let me tell you about my pirate crew member and best friend."

Ace points at Sabo, who smiles at Luffy waves. "Hello there."

"He is Sabo." Says Ace. "He is the son of a noble and ran away from home."

"Oy! Ace! Don't tell that to a kid we don't even know!" Yells Sabo in annoyance as he hears Ace say that so casually.

"Anway." Ace continues as if he didn't even hear Sabo. "Now that everyone knows you Luffy. No one on this island will say anything to you, because you are my friend. Everyone knows not to mess with my friends. Bahahaha…"

Luffy looks at him with a surprised look as he says that. He didn't know that Ace would care so much about his friends and that he would consider him a friend too.

"Wow! That is so cool!" Exclaims Luffy as he stands up looking at Ace with stars in his eyes. 

"Oi! Oi! Oi! Luffy, don't look at him as your role model or something like that, Ace is a terrible role-model." Explains Sabo, not wanting to have another Ace in his hands. One of them is annoying enough…

"Huh? Why?" Asks Luffy, curious why one of Ace's friends would say something like that about him… straight to his face.

"Bahahahahaha…" Laughs Ace. "Because only one cool guy like me exists… and that is me."

Sabo sigs at that, he looks at Luffy and starts explaining to him. "Because… well…" he points at Ace. "That, you know. He is greedy, selfish, unbelievingly petty, and arrogant."

"Wow, Sabo! I didn't know that you thought so highly of me." Says Ace as he looks at him.

"That's not a compliment!" Yells Sabo in annoyance.

"No need to be bashful." Says Ace. "I can understand if you feel enamored by me. But sorry I am into girls."

Sabo clenches his teeth at this and points at Ace. "THIS IS IT LUFFY!!! This is what I don't want you to be. Huh?"

He sees that Ace has disappeared from his previous place. So he turns back to look at Luffy and sees Ace with a drawing board in his hand. "You see Luffy, you must have a distinguishing outfit, something that sticks with people. That is the first step to being cool, and I guess the straw hat adds to that. But you will need more bright colors, like red or blue."

"Uhuh." Nods Luffy as he looks at Ace's surprisingly good drawings.

Sabo falls on his knees, his palms hitting the ground as tears come out of his eyes. "Damn it! This sucks, why did I choose to join his crew."

Fwish!

Ace appears beside Sabo and pats him on the back. "Well, it was either that or falling from a tree."

Luffy looks at the situation in front of him and thinks of how Sabo and Ace act a lot like Shank's Crew, always doing something silly. There was never a boring moment with them. 

"Anyway, Luffy, I want you to meet another friend of mine. He doesn't live in the city though." Says Ace, not even asking Luffy if he wants to go as he takes the kid on his shoulder and starts running off at top speed. Ace jumped from building to building with such ease that it surprised Luffy, it almost felt like flying to him.

"Oy! Ace! Wait for me!" Yells Sabo as he also follows Ace, jumping from building to building, and easily jumping over the wall. "Ace, you are going too fast!"

"Try to keep up slowpoke!" Says Ace as he runs off with Luffy on his shoulder, laughing out loud while approaching the forest.

…

Five minutes later and they arrive in the middle of a forest. Ace whistles and immediately drops Luffy on the ground.

*Booom*

"Hm?" Luffy is confused by this as he hears trees being crushed. 'It's probably some big animal.' Contemplates Luffy, not being scared at all, as he has Ace next to him. 'I kind of pity the animal.'

...

BOOM!

Finally, the sound gets close enough and a tree crashes withing sight. Luffy looks at it and sees a giant tiger with a strange look in its eyes.

Fwosh!

The elephant-sized tiger charges at Ace at top speeds. He doesn't seem worried about it and only spreads his arms wide.

"Oy! Look out!" Yells out Luffy in warning, a little worried at how causal Ace is about this.

The tiger pins Ace in the ground and that is what Luffy goes from worried to terrified. But contrary to his expectations, the tiger only licks him.

"Hahaha… long time no see Cat, did you finally learn to chop wood with your tail?" Asks Ace, with a happy smile on his face.

Cat is confused by this, so he only does what he always does when Ace says something… he nods.

"I knew it, you always have been the smartest animal on this island." Says Ace.

"Ace!" Comes a sudden voice from the woods Sabo breathing heavily appears. *pant* *pant* *pant*

He sees Cat and Ace just playing around. "Ace…"

Baam!

Sabo falls on the ground, too tired from running. He had to climb up a mountain, dodge dangerous animals, try to keep up with Ace, and not lose him… he barely completed them.

"Oh yeah!" Exclaims Ace, as if he just remembered something. "Luffy, have you ever fought monkeys?"

"Yeah, grandpa made me fight them." Says Luffy. "Why?"

"Hmmm… you should fight some more of them. I have some friends, they would be willing to fight you for a whole day for a stack of bananas and banana juice." Says Ace, while Luffy scrunches up his face at that.

"Ehhhh. Training? I only get hurt in that and it makes me hungry." Says Luffy, his childish mind not understanding what training is even useful for.

Ace blinks a couple of times as he looks at Luffy. "Oh sorry… did it seem like I was asking for your opinion? I am just informing you what's gonna happen Luffy."

….

….

….

And so like that, two years pass, Luffy is out doing his own thing. While Sabo and Ace are in a field, sparring against each other. Sabo has a mountain behind him, while Ace has the forest, the grass under their feet is a lush green as it sways in the wind.

Sabo has a spear in his hand and Ace has a sword. 

Clang!

They clash with their weapon, Ace has a smile though as he uses his full power and pushes Sabo away, crashing him into the mountain.

Boom! 

"Damn it!" Yells Sabo, as he comes out of the hole he had made, as he coughs from the dust. Ace's strength always prevails during their battles. Even though Sabo uses more technique is his spear usage, because he trains more than Ace does with a sword… he is still crushed by Ace repeatedly, just by using raw strength.

What stings his pride is that he knows Ace is not going all out. If he used Haki, Sabo wouldn't be able to survive even one of Ace's slashes.

 Ace has been teaching him about Haki for years now, but he still hasn't got it down yet. So now Ace is going another way about teaching it.

"Sabo, I am gonna go all out now." Says Ace casually.

"Wha-" Says Sabo confusedly, but he sees a kick heading for his face and he can't dodge it.

Baaam!

….

AUTHOR NOTE:

Ace has a good relationship with Sabo, even though Ace likes to annoy him for entertainment.

P.S: Ace is currently 12 years old if anyone is curious.