Chapter 25: Ace's father...

= Months Later =

It's winter. Rin has become stronger and faster so she's not having a hard time keeping up with Ace and Sabo anymore and she's getting used to the way they do things. She also stays at the hideout once in a while after telling Makino she might not come back everytime. Right now Rin, Ace and Sabo are chasing a Danpa.

"Alright! We drove him to the bay!" Ace said.

"Luffy! Get ready!" Sabo yelled.

Once the bear arrives at the bay, Luffy jump from above.

"You can't get away!" Luffy screamed before he jumped and fell near the bear.

The bear dodged but passed out from tiredness.

"Yes! I got him!" Luffy cheered.

Rin smiled and said "Congrats."

Sabo congratulate Luffy on his first kill. Luffy jumps over the bear happily when suddenly...

"Hey, look!" Sabo said pointing to something on the cliff behind Luffy.

"GRR..."

"Luffy, watch your back!" Sabo warned Luffy.

"Back?" Luffy said before he turns around. "A big tiger!"

Ace and Sabo told Luffy to give the tiger the bear that he caught but Luffy doesn't want to. The tiger jumped down from and smack Luffy to the side. Luffy tried to attack the tiger but failed. He tries to attack again but Ace and Sabo carried him away.

The three of them went back to their hideout and Rin went back to the village.

= The Next Day =

"Are you ready?" Ace asked.

"Yeah!" Sabo answered.

"I can't believe you want to fight the big tiger from yesterday just to decide who'll become captain..." Rin said.

"We went through so much to catch these. What a waste!" Luffy complaint.

"Don't complain. We caught these to use as bait." Sabo said sternly.

"GRRR!!"

"Oh! There he comes." Sabo said.

"What a greedy bastard! He can't have them today!" Luffy said.

A few seconds later instead of a big tiger, a big bear appeared. Since the big bear is almost as strong as the tiger, the three boys agreed to fight the bear as practice before fighting the tiger. Ace rush ahead and attack the bear first. Ace's attacks leaves a big bump on the bear's head. The bear got angry and starts chasing all of them including Rin who is standing behind the boys. They ran through the forest but the bear is still chasing after them. While running away from the bear, a wooden hammer suddenly flew above them and a old man named Naguri came and scared the bear away. To thank the old man for saving them, they invited him to eat.

"What?! You were a pirate and a captain, Naguri!?" Sabo asked in amazement after hearing Naguri's story.

"Yes, indeed." Naguri answered.

"I knew it! Only a pirate captain can do that!" Luffy said.

They talked with Naguri for a while. Naguri told them how his crew got defeated by Gold Roger's crew. Ace walked away when he hears that story. Sabo decided to tell Luffy, Rin and Naguri that Ace's father is actually Gold Roger. Sabo warned Luffy to not talk to Ace about Roger. Sabo, Luffy and Rin went back to the hideout.

"We're home." Rin said.

"Oh, Ace! I didn't know you were home!" Sabo said casually.

"Oh, Ace! I didn't know that your father was Roger!" Luffy said casually...

Sabo panicked by what Luffy said and whispered to Luffy "You idiot, Luffy! I told you to not mention it!"

"Luffy!" Ace said.

"Yeah!" Luffy said.

"Who told you that?" Ace asked.

Rin back off and stand at the farthest corner in their hideout. Luffy said it was Sabo who told him about Ace's father. Luffy and Sabo bicker and Ace hit their heads. A bump appeared on their heads. Luffy and Sabo start arguing with Ace. Out of anger, Ace hit them again. The boys continue to argue while Rin sit at the corner cause she know that she'll get hit if she intervene. After a while they stopped arguing.

"Done fighting?" Rin asked.

"We're no longer brothers from today!" Ace yelled.

"That's what I was gonna say!!" Sabo and Luffy yelled at the same time.

"*sigh* I'm just gonna sleep..." Rin mumbles. 'I'll talk to them in the morning... '