Chapter 17

The crew's journey felt painstakingly slow as they traveled through the scorching desert for the rest of the day. It doesn't help that at the back of the herd, Rose and Luffy are still arguing about her joining the crew.

"I'm not joining you Luffy!"

"What's so bad about being a pirate?!"

"I never said there's anything bad about it!"

"Then join my crew!"

"For the last time no!"

Sanji turns to the back of the group to glare at Luffy. "Luffy, leave her alone. If she doesn't want to join then you shouldn't force her."

Luffy scowls at the command before he points to the brunette next to him. "Why do I have to give up? She's the one being stubborn."

Rose furrows her eyebrows at the remark. "You have no right to call me that! You're practically the king of stubbornness!"

"I'm not the king of stubbornness; I'm gonna be king of the pirates! That's why you should join-!"

"Shut the hell up already!" She accidentally loses her temper, and makes a strong gust of hot wind to push him away.

The rest of the group stops and looks in shock to see her wind knocking Luffy on his butt. Rose frantically stops her wind then looks around

to see everyone staring at her. She sadly frowns at everyone's eyes on her before she turns away from Luffy. "Sorry…"

She quickly walks past the group while she keeps her focus on her feet to avoid their stares. *Dammit, this is exactly what I was worried about… How the hell am I going to change his mind?*

The others watch her walking off for a moment before they move to catch up to her. Luffy quickly gets up and tries to reach Rose, but Usopp places a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

Luffy looks back at his friend to see him shaking his head before he speaks out of the wind girl's hearing range. "Give her some time to cool off. She'll send you flying at this rate."

Luffy looks back at Rose for a moment before he sighs in defeat. "Fine, I don't get why she won't join though…"

Ace looks back at his brother with a small frown before he goes next to him. "Then that's what you gotta find out. Once you know why, then you can do something about it."

The younger brother blinks at the advice before his large smile returns. "Great idea! Thanks Ace!"

"Anytime Lu." Ace softly smiles at his brother as he and the others start catching up to the group.

Rose continues to walk ahead at a small distance while Eyelashes walks up next to her with Nami and Vivi on his back. The brunette doesn't notice them as she keeps walking with her head down.

Vivi and Nami exchange a worried glance to one another before Vivi turns to Rose. "Are you alright?"

Rose snaps out of it before she gives them a small smile. "Yea, I'll be fine. Sorry about the wind."

Nami shakes her head at the apology. "It's not your fault. Luffy never knows when to stop."

"You got that right…" Rose says as she rakes her hand through her bangs. She looks back to see that they still have a small distance from the guys then turns back to the girls. "Hey Nami, do you have any tips?"

Nami quirks an eyebrow at the question. "Tips?"

"On how I can change Luffy's mind."

She blinks at the request before she chuckles. "No, but if you ever find one then pass it to me."

Rose giggles at the answer before she nods. "Sure."

Vivi looks over Nami's shoulder to see that they're reaching a small terrain with tall rocks filling the area. She looks up, to see that the sun's starting to set, then turns to Nami. "Maybe we should call it a day. That terrain over there will be a good place to set up camp."

Nami looks over the terrain then nods. "Good idea." She turns around to call out to the guys. "Guys, we're gonna set up camp at the rocks!"

The guys look over at the terrain and waste no time travelling there with the girls. Once the group's close enough to the cylinder shaped rocks, Rose flies onto one of the thirty foot tall piece of earth.

The group looks up at her in shock while she stares down at them. "I'm gonna explore the area! I have enough food in my bag for dinner, so don't worry about me!"

Luffy widens his dark eyes at the announcement as he watches her use her wind to jump from one rock to another to go into the ravine. "HEY, WAIT!"

He runs after her and leaves the rest of the group in the dust.

Zoro sweat drops at the sight of his captain running off before he sighs. "Finally, it's quiet now."

"Idiot, don't treat Rose-chan's distress as a nuisance!" Sanji says, which causes the two of them to glare at one another.

Usopp shakes his head before he takes his bag off his back. "Let's just set up camp already…"

The others nod in agreement as they set up their campsite. Sanji starts cooking dinner for the crew while the rest of the crew sets up the tents and fire pit.

Chopper starts relaxing by the fire when he hears Luffy and Rose yelling in the distance.

"JOIN MY CREW ROSE!"

"NOT HAPPENING LUFFY!"

Chopper blinks at the yelling then stares at the path they took. "Wow, and I thought he was persistent when he recruited me."

Nami chuckles at her captain's persistence as she sits down next to the reindeer. "You don't know the half of it. Once Luffy wants someone in his crew, it's almost impossible to change his mind."

Chopper looks up at the navigator with curiosity in his eyes. "Really? How did he recruit you Nami?"

The redhead softly smiles at the memory of how Luffy recruited her. "When I was a kid, I was forced to join a crew of fishman pirates who took over my village. I had to steal from other pirates in order to raise the money to buy everyone's freedom. That included Luffy and the others. However, despite tricking the crew and stealing from them, Luffy still wanted me in the crew. When he found out my situation, he confronted Arlong and freed my village."

The ones who were involved in the fight to save Nami's village from Arlong's crew stare at the navigator softly, while the rest look at her in shock.

"Luffy really did that?" Ace asks with Nami to nodding with a smile.

"Yea, I don't know what would've happened if he and the others didn't help. And now I can make my map of the world."

Chopper can only blink at the incredible story that he heard. "Wow, that's amazing…"

Usopp nods before he smiles at Chopper. "If you think that was amazing then you should hear my story. I saved my hometown from the Black Cat pirates with my 8,000 men, and Luffy was so amazed that he begged me to-"

Nami cuts him off with a whack to the head. "Don't make stuff up! You'll confuse him!"

Chopper widens his eyes at the confrontation. "So it's not true?!"

The navigator shakes her head before she tells him the real version of how Usopp was recruited. "No, we travelled to his island to get a ship. The island was about to be ransacked by the Black Cat Pirates, but Luffy, Zoro and I took them down while Usopp protected his rich friend. His friend was so grateful for our help that she gave us the Going Merry. After that, Luffy asked Usopp to join."

Usopp rubs the bump on his head before he smiles at Chopper. "Yup, Luffy not only took me as a crewmate but Merry as well."

The small reindeer blinks at the thought of the Going Merry being a crewmate. "Merry's a crewmate too?"

The sniper nods with a knowing smirk on his face. "Of course, Merry's just as important as everyone else here. Don't ever forget it."

"I won't."

Vivi remains silent as she takes in the stories of how some of her friends were recruited into Luffy's crew. Hearing how the crew wasn't forced to join, but instead were drawn in by Luffy's personality causes her to softly smile at them.

The princess snaps back to reality when Sanji presents a plate of food in front of her. "For you my lady."

Vivi smiles at the dish before taking it from the chef. "Thank you Sanji. By the way, how were you asked to join?"

Sanji finishes passing the dishes to everyone before he grabs a cigarette from his pocket. "Sadly, Luffy made an terrible entrance. He caused cannonball to blast into the restaurant that I worked in."

Ace snorts from the hilarious scenario before he lights Sanji's cigarette. "That sounds exactly like Luffy."

The chef quietly sighs at the memory as he takes a drag from the lit cigarette. "My boss was so mad that he made Luffy agree to work there for a year. But, he managed to get out of it by helping us fight off a pirate crew that tried to take over the restaurant."

Chopper tilts his head at the story. "Really? Then how did you join?"

"He got fired." Zoro says, so the chef sends a kick his way, but the swordsman quickly blocks him.

"That's not what happened! I left to find the All Blue! How did you wind up being the first member anyway moss head?!"

Zoro scoffs at the question. "Like I need to tell you curly brow."

"What?!" Sanji lunges at Zoro and goes into a leg and sword brawl with him while the others enjoy their meal.

Usopp finishes his meal before he looks back at the terrain. "Luffy's been out there a while. Think he'll come back?"

Nami shakes her head at the question. "He'll probably be out there all night trying to recruit her."

Ace chuckles as he looks at the ravine. "That sounds about right. We just gotta wait and see what happens."

The others smile at the agreement before Ace passes out and falls on his back. "HE FELL ASLEEP?!"

Chopper rushes to his side to make sure that the freckled man's breathing steadily. He goes into heavy point to move him in order for him to sleep in a more comfortable position, and then turns to the others. "He's ok; it's just another narcoleptic fit."

After being assured that their friend is okay, the rest of the group returns to their meal.

Chopper transforms back into a two legged reindeer then looks back at the terrain. *If Luffy managed to convince all of us then maybe there's hope for Rose to change her mind too.*

He grins at the idea of Rose joining the crew before he goes back to enjoying his evening with the others.

Rose relentlessly jumps from rock to rock with Luffy chasing her from the ground below. "GET BACK HERE ROSE!"

*Now where have I heard that line before? Oh yea, my whole life.* Rose chuckles at the comment she made in her head before she calls down to him. "ONLY IF YOU STOP ASKING ME TO JOIN!"

"HELL NO!"

"THEN WE GOT NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT!" She blasts as much wind as she can to fly past ten rocks and causes Luffy to lose sight of her.

"OH, COME ON!" He follows the gust through the terrain in order to find the wind girl. However, as Luffy ran off to follow the wind, Rose was sitting on a rock that was five feet away from the trail he took.

She looks around her surroundings to see that Luffy's nowhere in sight, and sighs in relief as she takes off her backpack to relax. "Damn, this is what it was like when he chased doc? I'm gonna go nuts at this rate…"

The brunette runs her hands through her hair in frustration before she tries to think of a plan. *There's gotta be a way to convince him... Maybe if I tell him what the crew has that I don't. I mean, they're all working to achieve a special goal and I'm just aiming for…*

She stops her train of thought when she looks back on her dream to discover the secrets of the Timore comet and to learn how to use the comet's power to travel the universes. She groans to herself as she covers her face with her hands and lies down on her back. "Oh my god, my freaking dream can actually live up to the crew's reputation… Shit..."

She takes her hands away from her purple eyes so that they meet with the evening sky. She softly gazes at the stars that are starting to come out, ans gently caresses her necklace. *What would mom and dad have done in this situation?*

She snaps out of her thoughts to the sound of her stomach growling then sits up cross legged. "Maybe some dinner will help me think."

She digs into her bag to grab an apple and a mango then chows down on them. Once she's done she digs inside for some more food, but takes a closer look to see that some of her apples are missing. "What the-?! When did Luffy steal my food?!"

"Why do you think I did it?!"

Rose pauses when she hears Luffy's voice behind her. She quickly turns around to see his torso over the edge of the rock as he pulls himself up.

She scoots backwards so that he has enough room to get on the rock then shows him the bag. "Nobody else would take my food!"

Luffy pouts at the accusation as he pulls the rest of his body over the edge, and sits cross legged. "It could've been Ace..."

Rose pauses at the excuse then furrows her eyebrows. "Oh really, then you can honestly tell me that you never took my food?"

He widens his eyes at the question before he purses his lips and shifts his eyes everywhere. "N-no way… I never took your food…"

Rose blinks at the terrible lie before she starts giggling. "Hahaha, you're never allowed to call me a terrible liar again."

Luffy blinks at the freckled girl's cute giggles before he smiles at her. "I won't call you a bad liar again if you join my crew."

She immediately stops smiling as she remembers that they're still fighting. She sadly frowns at him before she places her hands on her knees and bows her head. "Luffy, please stop asking me to join."

Luffy widens his eyes at the formal request. "What the-?! Don't act formal! I don't want to stop until you join!"

She quietly sighs as she lifts her head. "Sorry, but I can't."

"Why not?!"

Rose rubs the back of her head while she tries to come up with an answer to convince him to give up. Not wanting to go into any details about her dream, she decides to go try another way about it. "You saw how my wind acted up when we were arguing. I don't have enough control to become a pirate. One wrong move and I can destroy the Going Merry by accident."

The captain can only tilt his head at the excuse. "That's a dumb reason."

Rose pauses at the blunt statement before she looks at him in confusion. "How's that dumb?"

"Your power's awesome, and you're getting better at it. If you ever send yourself flying again then I'll reel you in like I always did."

Rose widens her eyes at the statement as she remembers the times that he pulled her towards his side. She quickly shakes her head at the suggestion while she nervously smiles at him. "T-that's ok, my flying's not the problem! It's more about me using it in a fight!"

"That doesn't make sense either. The way you've been fighting so far has been great. If we go against anyone really tough then I'll take care of them."

Rose shakes her head as she gets up and puts on her backpack. "Sorry, but since I'm not joining you don't need to. I'd rather fight my own battles anyway."

Luffy widens his eyes at the refusal before he stands up. "But you still didn't give me a good reason!"

She internally groans at his stubboenness before she points towards the sky. "Here's one then, I already said that I want to be an astronomer. That doesn't mix with being a pirate."

"Who told you that?!"

"You ever heard of a pirate astronomer before?"

"No."

"Then that proves that it doesn't work."

"That's not true, that just means you get to be the first one."

Frustration begins to well up in the wind girl as she scowls at him. "Well then maybe I just don't want-!" She stops herself from saying that she doesn't want to be in his crew, because she knows that's a lie.

Luffy tilts his head at the unfinished statement. "You don't want what?"

Her scowl morphs into a small frown as she turns around to find the light from the crew's campfire in the distance. "I don't want to cause any more trouble. Let's just leave it at that."

Luffy blinks at the explanation. "What do you mean by-?!"

He stops himself when Rose lifts him up with a gust of cold wind and starts flying with her. "Where are we going?"

She keeps her stare up ahead as she carries them towards the campfire's light. "Back to the campsite. Hopefully Sanji saved you a plate."

Luffy quickly brightens up at the mention of food. "Yea, let's go!"

Rose smiles at how she escaped the argument before Luffy frowns at her. "This isn't over though. I still want you to join."

Rose softly frowns at his refusal to give up, but she doesn't give him another response for the rest of the night.

Just before the sun starts rising with the group sleeping soundly. That is, except for Rose who just woke up from her mind constantly coming up with ways to convince Luffy to give up all night long. In order to shake off her bad night sleep, without waking the others, she flies onto one of the rocks.

She looks down at the crew below her for a moment before she moves a few rocks away from them. *Since I'm up, I can at least get some training done. Anything to help get my mind off things.*

She stops on a rock that gives her a few feet of walking space. She gets in a stance at the center of the rocks and throws punches in order to turn her arms into wind. However, she only succeeded in blasting wind out of her fists.

She stops punching and looks down at her arms. This time she tries to focus on all of her wind into her right arm when the thin arm starts to become transparent. She starts smiling broadly as she sees her arm turning into air, but it becomes a stronger gust than she anticipated and pushes her backwards.

She quickly turns her arm back to normal as she stumble backwards to regain her balance just before she reaches the edge. She sighs in frustration as she looks down at her arm. "Damn."

"Isn't it a little early for training?"

Rose pauses at the masculine voice behind her, and quietly sighs when she turns around to see Ace casually sitting on another rock. "Couldn't sleep, what's your excuse for being up?"

"The wind was howling too loud."

Rose pauses at the complaint before she rubs the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry."

Ace chuckles before he stands up. "Relax, I'm just teasing. What part of your wind are you working on?"

"I was working on turning my arm into wind. I managed to make it, but there's still no control."

Ace blinks at this. "You managed to turn it into wind on command? It took me two weeks to do that."

Rose widens her eyes at this. "Really?!"

Ace casually nods as he remembers how he turned his arm into fire for the first time. "Yup, back when I was fighting a marine captain. I was so surprised that I finally turned my arm into fire that I aimed poorly and set the jerk's pants on fire."

Rose drops her jaw at the story before she starts laughing. "Hahaha, are you serious?! I'd give a million beli to see that!"

Ace chuckles at the story then he gives her some instructions. "Here's a tip that I found helpful. When you're turning your arm into wind think of the element as a part of your body."

Rose takes a moment to process his instruction before she turns to the side. She takes a deep breath and focuses on her arm. She only pays attention to her breathing as she thinks about how the wind's a part of her arm. When she sees that her arm's starting to transform she smiles, but doesn't let up as she focuses her energy to transform her arm into a gentle breeze. After she succeeds she stops her wind to allow her arm to turn back to normal.

Rose grins in excitement while she catches her breath then raises her fists up to the new morning sky. "Yes, finally!"

Ace chuckles at the freckled girl's over excitement. "You're acting like you won a fight."

Rose pauses when she remembers that she's not alone then smirks at her fellow logia user. "This is my first step to do that. Thanks Ace."

He casually shrugs at the gratitude. "Just keeping my promise. Still, if you're not becoming a pirate then why are you working so hard?"

Rose starts losing her smirk as she remembers her situation with Luffy, before she quickly puts another smile on. "I have plenty of reasons, but I'll give you some of them. First, even though I'm not in the crew I promised Vivi to help save her country. Second, I want to know what my power can do. Third…"

Her smile begins to grow as she gives him the peace sign. "As one of the freckled elements it's my duty to get stronger, so that I give us a good reputation."

Ace twitches an eyebrow at the team name before he jumps onto her rock and whacks her on the head. "Enough with the 'freckled elements' crap!"

Rose rubs her head while she chuckles at his reaction. "Not happening, the name's too cool to pass up."

Ace groans at her stubbornness as he rubs his face, but he quickly pauses when he realizes that this is a good chance to question her. "Hey, why do you keep refusing to join Luffy anyway?"

Rose widens her eyes at the question before she shifts her eyes towards her feet. "It's complicated… See, I already have my own goals to accomplish. Like I said before, this is for the best."

Ace raises an eyebrow at the answer before Rose lifts herself up with her wind. She gives him a quick smile before she starts flying off. "Well, I don't know about you but I'm hungry. I'm gonna see if the others are up. Thanks again for the help Ace."

The Whitebeard pirate blinks at the retreat as he watches her fly back to the camp. *What kind of answer was that?! If the rest of Luffy's crew can follow him while chasing their goals then why can't she? Ugh, she's making no sense… Looks like Luffy's got a long way to go with her...*

Ace sighs in disappointment in not being able to help his brother before he follows her back to the campsite.

What neither of them noticed however, was that on top of a distant rock a middle aged man, dressed in a plaid shirt that's covered by his overalls, has been watching them. "That man, could it really be him?"

The brown haired man tilts his motorcycle helmet, with a scorpion symbol decorating the front of it, then grabs his telescope. He places the telescope in front of his eyes, which are hidden by his sunglasses, and takes a closer look at the freckled man. "It's really Fire Fist Ace!"

He grins in victory as he wakes up the sleeping ostrich that's wearing a similar helmet. "Popo, wake up! We got a bounty to catch!"

The ostrich grudgingly nods as he stands around while he watches his owner scramble to get ready for his bounty.

As Luffy's crew enjoys their breakfast, Luffy and Usopp go over to Sanji after they finish their meal. They hold their empty plates to the chef while they speak simultaneously. "Sanji, seconds please!"

Sanji twitches an eyebrow before he kicks them both in the face. "Shut up, you ate enough!"

Usopp groans at the kick and stays down. Luffy however, stretches his arm towards Zoro as he's eating his own breakfast and snatches a piece of his meat.

Zoro widens his eyes when he sees Luffy grab a piece of his meal. "Luffy! Quit taking other people's food!"

He tackles his captain to try to get his food back with his captain not giving in. In the meantime, Usopp recovers from the kick and starts arguing with Sanji about seconds.

The three girls casually enjoy their meal as they stay out of the fight.

"Why does this happen at every meal?" Vivi asks as she watches Luffy and Zoro fight.

Rose finishes her meal then chuckles at the argument going on in front of her. "Beats me, at least it doesn't get boring." She digs into her bag to get her camera and takes a few quick pictures. Once she's satisfied, she places the camera back in the bag.

Nami shakes her head at Rose's attitude as she keeps eating. "Don't encourage them. They always overdo it."

She takes a look at the rock next to them to see Ace sitting alone and cleaning the utensils he used. "Look up there though, Ace is cleaning after himself and not causing trouble. He's completely different from his brother."

Vivi and Rose follow her gaze towards the fire logia user for a moment.

Rose casually shrugs as she starts cleaning her plate with a napkin. "I wouldn't say they're completely different. They're both pirates with large bounties after all."

Vivi blinks at the comparison. "You know about Ace's bounty?"

Rose finishes cleaning her plate then smiles at the question. "It's hard not to notice a bounty from a member of the Whitebeard Pirates."

Nami nods as she thinks back on the rumors that she heard about Fire Fist Ace. "I heard that Ace's bounty is so high that all sorts of bounty hunters drool at the price. As the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, he's feared all over the world too."

Vivi widens her eyes at this. "Really, you really think Blackbeard will be in Yuba?"

Nami shrugs as she finishes her plate. "We'll have to see when we get there."

Rose nods in agreement as she gets up. "Yea, until then we gotta keep moving. I can take those plates for you guys."

The other girls hand her their empty plates and watch her walk off. After she makes sure that they're cleaned, she returns them to Sanji's bag. Once she's done she looks back at Ace who's sitting alone. She softly frowns at him as she drifts into her thoughts about what's coming next. *Now that the separation filler's done, it's only a matter of time until he leaves to go after Blackbeard. Since he knows more about what he's up against maybe he'll have a better chance. At least I hope so...*

She softly sighs at the thought of Ace leaving soon as she goes to keep Chopper, who's been eating in peace the entire time, company.

Meanwhile, nobody has noticed the bounty hunter on the distant rock that's been preparing his bazooka ever since he saw Ace. The hunter begins to smirk with his smoking pipe hanging from his teeth as he finishes loading his weapon. He looks through the small scope attached to the bazooka to make sure that he gets a clear shot.

Once he sees the Whitebeard Pirate in his line of sight, the bearded man couldn't stop his smirk from spreading. "Time to take your bounty First Fist Ace! Don't worry though, I don't wanna kill you. I have my pride as a bounty hunter after all."

He aims his weapon towards the rock that the freckled man's sitting on, then lights a match to set the ignition rope on fire. Once it's set, the bounty hunter keeps his focus on his target while ignoring his ostrich who's standing behind him.

When the bazooka's lit rope was starting to cause smoke, it fills the bird's nostrils he starts to sniffle. He couldn't take it anymore and sneezes onto the rope to put out the fire before it can set off the bazooka.

The bounty hunter however, didn't notice that the rope was no longer lit so he keeps aiming his bazooka towards his target.

As he waits for the bazooka that's never going to fire the Straw Hats continue to get ready for the next leg of their journey.

Nami has just finished putting out the fire before she dusts her hands off. "Alright guys, how are we on-?"

She cuts herself off when she sees Usopp, Sanji, Zoro and Luffy still arguing over breakfast. She twitches an eyebrow in irritation as she gets her fists ready. "That's enough!"

She whacks all her crewmates on the head in order to shut them up. Everyone of them falls on their faces while Nami places her hands on her hips. "Forget about your stupid fight. Just hurry and clean up so that we can leave."

The boys reluctantly agree as they stand up.

However, before Luffy does anything he looks at Zoro's unfinished food and sees that a piece of meat being lifted up by a thin fishing line that's barely visible. Luffy wasn't able to see the small line that's lifting the meat into the air as he stares at it in awe. "Awesome!"

"Oh no, he saw us!"

"Hurry big brother!"

Luffy widens his eyes at the young voices coming from the meat's direction as it starts moving away from them. "Whoa, the meat can talk!"

Nami quirks an eyebrow at Luffy's statement. "What are you talking about?"

Luffy ignores her question when he sees the meat being reeled in and weaving past the rocks. "Hey, come back meat!"

He jumps onto some of the smaller rocks and starts jumping after it from one rock to another.

"Luffy, come back!" Zoro calls out, but Luffy doesn't listen as he goes deeper into the terrain.

"COME BACK HERE MEAT!" The rest of the crew freezes at Luffy's yelling and watches him run off.

Chopper tilts his head in confusion as he watches his captain run off. "What happened?"

Rose widens her eyes when she recalls what comes next. "We have some company."

Chopper looks up in confusion as she tries to find Ace, but he's not in the campsite anymore. *This is the episode where that bounty hunter and his sons show up! Ace must have found the kids right-*

She snaps out of it to the sound of a gunshot being fired in the distance. She and the others rush to the noise to see Ace standing on a

small rock while two young boys nervously watch him from the ground.

The younger of the two brown haired boys hides behind his big brother in fear as he keeps the stolen meat in his hands.

The older boy stands in front of his brother with a pistol in his trembling hands that's still pointed at Ace. "H-he managed to burn off the bullet! Just how strong is he?!"

Usopp looks down at the burnt remains of the bullet in shock before looking at the kids. "What the hell happened? And who are these kids?"

The older boy ignores Usopp's questions and runs up in front of Ace's rock. "Please, we need your help."

Ace quirks an eyebrow at the request as the child keeps going. "There's someone I want you to find and catch! If you do it I'll pay you a million beli!"

The others start staring at the boy in confusion as the child clenches his fists. "I can't pay right now, but I will pay it when I grow up!"

The boy digs into his pocket and takes out a picture of the bounty hunter that's after Ace. "Please find this man! His name's Scorpion, he's a bounty hunter"

Ace picks up the photo and looks at the man curiously. "Did you say Scorpion?"

The boys slowly nod while the older brother speaks for both of them. "My brother and I followed him from the Badlands…"

Nami looks at the two boys in confusion. "Why are you guys chasing a bounty hunter?"

The two kids look at each other nervously to try to find the right thing to say. "Well…"

"Don't worry about it, I have business with him too." Ace says with everyone looking at him in shock.

Sanji quirks an eyebrow at the statement as he looks down at the photo. "What kind of business do you have with him?"

"The rumor I heard about Blackbeard being in Yuba. The full extent of it is that Blackbeard was defeated by a man named Scorpion there."

Usopp widens his eyes at this. "This guy defeated Blackbeard?!"

"That's the rumor anyway. I was planning to go to Yuba to confirm it, but if he comes to me then this'll be easier."

The younger brother looks at him in shock. "So you'll do it?!"

Ace nods with a small smile. "Yea, I'll do it."

The older boy quickly brightens up before he bows his head. "Thank you so much! My name's Dip and this is my younger brother Chip."

Vivi smiles at the introduction before she looks around. "We should still wait until Luffy comes back."

"I'll go search for him." Rose says as she starts flying to leave the group and a pair of totally shocked kids behind. *Now that the kids are here, Scorpion shouldn't be too far behind. If I find him then I'll find Luffy.*

She continues flying over the terrain in order to search for Luffy and the bounty hunter while the others return to the camp to wait for them.

A few minutes passed since Scorpion ignited the line to his bazooka, and he is still waiting for it to fire. After a few more seconds of waiting, he realizes that something isn't right. "Wait, shouldn't it have fired by now?"

He looks over the bazooka to see that not only is the rope no longer lit, but it's been plucked from the bazooka to become his ostrich's lunch.

Scorpion watches in horror as his pet slurps up the rope that he's using. "You damn bird!"

He drops the bazooka and starts chasing after his bird for revenge.

On the ground below them though, Luffy just stopped running to catch his breath. "Damn, what happened to the meat?" He looks around to try to find the stolen meat, but there's no luck.

"WHY DID YOU EAT IT YOU STUPID BIRD?!"

Luffy looks up in confusion when he hears Scorpion yelling, but he doesn't see the comedic chase between the man and the ostrich. The only thing that he was able to witness, was the bazooka being kicked off the tall rock from all the running. Scorpion quickly dips the top half of his body in order to catch his weapon, but the bomb that was loaded into the bazooka falls out of its holster and starts hurdling towards Luffy.

"NO!" Scorpion looks at the falling bomb in horror then notices Luffy standing below them. "HEY BOY, RUN FOR IT! IF THAT BLOWS UP IT'LL TAKE HALF OF ALABASTA WITH IT!"

The bounty hunter watches Luffy not making a move as the bomb gets closer to him, so he jumps back to take cover. After a few seconds Scorpion pauses when he doesn't hear any kind of explosion. He looks over the edge to see both Luffy and the bomb are missing. "What the-?!"

"What's the matter?"

Scorpion jumps in surprise at Luffy's voice before he turn around to see Luffy standing behind him. "What the-?! How'd you get up here?! And what happened to the bomb?!"

"You mean this?" Luffy shows him the round black ball with purple dots all over it.

"What the hell?!" Scorpion jumps back in shock from the sight of his bomb and accidentally leans towards the edge. It was too late for him to recompose himself before he starts falling backwards off the edge. He manages to keep himself from falling by holding onto the edge with his legs while the rest of his body is dangling.

Luffy chuckles at the man's predicament. "Shishishi, you're pretty funny."

"Just help me up!" Scorpion reaches his arm up in order for Luffy to grab him and pull him back up.

Once Scorpion's safely back on the rock, he grabs his telescope to see where his target went. "Where did he go?!"

He frantically searches for Ace, but he completely lost sight of him. "I can't play around now!"

He turns towards his ostrich and puts the telescope back in his bag. "Popo, we're heading over to where he was! Get everything ready!"

The ostrich nods as he helps Scorpion pack everything up.

Meanwhile, Rose is flying around the terrain in hopes of finding Luffy. She keeps scanning the area until she spots a familiar straw hat standing on top of a rock and watching Scorpion packing everything onto his ostrich.

She quickly descends towards them and floats just behind Luffy. "There you are Luffy."

The captain jumps in surprise from the familiar voice then turns around with a smile on his face. "Oh, hey Rose. What are you doing here?"

"Finding you, the others have been wondering where you went." She turns to the bounty hunter who's been too busy packing up to notice her. "Is this guy Scorpion?"

Scorpion widens his eyes at his name being said before he turns to the pair with a smile. "You're a fan?! That's wonderful, how would you kids like to see an epic battle?"

Luffy brightens up at the offer. "Yea, who's fighting?!"

"Me and a tough pirate. Come on, I'll bring you along."

Rose eagerly smiles at the fight she's about to watch. "Sounds good!" She uses her wind to carry the group off the rock and onto the ground.

Scorpion looks at her in shock before he gets onto his ostrich. "Neat trick kid, just follow us."

Rose nods while Luffy gets on the ostrich's back just before Popo takes them towards the direction of the camp.

The brunette flies beside them with a smile as she scans over the ostrich with fascination in her eyes. *This is one awesome ostrich. He could be as fast as Eyelashes.*

She keeps staring at the ostrich in awe while Luffy looks around. "This is awesome!"

Scorpion starts snickering as he pays attention to the path they're on. "That's an understatement kid. You and the girl are going to see the world's greatest upcoming bounty hunter locked in battle!"

Rose grins at the fight she's going to witness, but stays silent while Luffy looks at him in confusion. "You're a bounty hunter?"

"Yup, I've been on so many epic adventures that you probably won't believe me! I've fought epic battles with everyone. From Double Barrel Danny to Hellbattler Luther and it always ends with them begging for their lives."

Luffy widens his eyes at the story before smiling widely. "Wow really?!"

"No, but someday it will be!" Scorpion begins laughing triumphantly at the dream he's about to realize.

"Oh, someday huh?" Luffy joins him in his laughter.

Rose chuckles at the story before she grins at the bounty hunter. "So, who are you fighting in today's epic battle?"

"I'm going after Fire Fist Ace! Once I take care of him the others will be a cinch!"

Luffy blinks at the statement before he chuckles. "You wanna beat Ace up?! That's funny."

"Hey now! Don't mock me! When I do something, I don't kid around!" He tightens his grip on the ostrich's reins as he steers him ahead.

"Men have to live for big ambitions! I have to show them that!"

Rose looks at him softly for she know who he's talking about but remains silent.

Luffy tilts his head at the statement and looks at him in confusion. "You have to show who?"

Scorpion doesn't answer his question, but instead he snaps the reins to make Popo go faster. "Enough talk! I'm coming for you Ace!"

"Whoa!" Luffy grips on his straw hat to make sure that it doesn't fall from the fast ride.

"Hey wait up!" Rose rushes to catch up to the speeding ostrich as they journey on towards the campsite.

Ace's group has just finished packing up and are now waiting for Rose and Luffy to come back.

Usopp looks to see Ace is scanning the picture of Scorpion again. "Hey Ace, do you really think this guy defeated Blackbeard?

Ace casually shrugs as he gives the picture one last look. "I'm not sure. The only way to know is to meet him in person."

Chip widens his eyes at the name Usopp called him and turns to the freckled man. "You're Ace?! As in Fire Fist Ace?!"

Ace nods at the question and hands them the photo. "That's right, why do you-?"

"THERE YOU ARE FIRE FIST!"

The group freezes at Scorpion's voice and turn to see Scorpion riding his ostrich with Luffy on his back while Rose is flying next to them.

The boys look at Scorpion in shock before they hide behind a rock to avoid being spotted. The crew doesn't notice the kids hiding as remain speechless in seeing their friends riding with the bounty hunter.

Ace however, has his attention on only the bounty hunter. "So you're Scorpion?"

The bounty hunter flinches at the serious look on the pirate's face. *This is really Fire Fist Ace?!*

Luffy looks at the nervous man in confusion. "Hey, what's up?"

Scorpion quickly shakes his head. "Eh, nothing, I'm just getting ready!" He tries to regain his nerves before he turns back to Ace. *What am I doing? I can't wimp out! There's no way I can give up. Not as long as they're waiting for me!*

He manages to harden his nerves before he scowls at the freckled man. "That's right, I'm Scorpion! I'm here to challenge you!"

Dip nervously looks over the rock he's hiding behind as he speaks up. "Don't be stupid. He's the real one."

His words weren't able to reach the bounty hunter, but they were able to reach the crewmembers. The group looks at them in confusion, but the kids don't say anything else.

Ace's eyes go from the kids to the bounty hunter before a smirk appears on his face. "I accept, let's fight. Luffy, Rose, get yourselves out of the way."

Rose doesn't hesitate as she lifts Luffy up alongside her and goes towards the others.

Luffy grins in excitement about the fight as they start landing near the crew. "Don't pull any punches Ace!"

"I wasn't planning to!"

Rose grins in pure excitement as she starts digging into her bag. *Even though this is pretty one sided, seeing a fight like this is too awesome!*

She grabs her camera and goes to the side to get some good pictures as Ace and Scorpion's ostrich begin charging towards one another.

"HERE I COME FIRE FIST!" Scorpion pulls out a net launcher from his bag and aims it at his opponent. He fires the metal net towards the freckled pirate. However, just before the net can trap Ace he quickly blasts the net off him with his flames.

Scorpion stops his ostrich when the net lands on him and knocks him off the bird.

"Hot, hot!" He scrambles to get the hot net off of him while Popo kicks sand on him in order to help cool him down.

The kids look at the bounty hunter with worry in their eyes when they see Scorpion getting back up. He glares at Ace behind his sunglasses while the pirate's is waiting for him to make his move.

He smirks at his target as he gets up. "This wouldn't be fun if you were that easy to beat Fire Fist."

Ace returns the smirk when he sees that he has some fight in him. "Oh, looks like you're a real fighter."

"Our battle's just getting started! Popo, get the compressed extinguisher gun!"

The ostrich quickly complies to his orders as he takes the backpack weapon from his bag with his beak and gives it to his owner.

Scorpion wastes no time in assembling the target hose while pulling the pack filled with extinguisher foam on his back.

Sanji raises an eyebrow at the strange weapon. "What the hell kind of gun is that?"

Nami shrugs as she looks at the weapon with a blank expression. "Looks like an overgrown fire extinguisher."

*More like a gun from Ghostbusters.* Rose chuckles at the comparison she made in her head as she got ready to take more photos.

"Get ready to be extinguished!" Scorpion fires the foam at Ace, but he quickly dodges.

The others look at the rock that was behind Ace in shock to see that Scorpion's shot was powerful enough to break through the rock. Scorpion keeps shooting at Ace, but he quickly jumps in order to dodge every shot.

Ace smirks at the attacks as he takes the offense and charges him. He side steps during his charge to dodge the foam shots fired at him until he makes it to the bounty hunter and punches him in the gut. Scorpion dry heaves at the rough punch as he clenches onto his stomach and topples over the edge of a sand dune.

The rest of the group looks at how the fight ended in disbelief of how it ended so abruptly.

Rose sighs as she puts the camera away. *Poor guy never had a chance. Still, using a fire extinguisher on him was a clever idea.* She shrugs to herself as she rejoins the others.

Ace looks down at the collapsed bounty hunter at the bottom of the small dune with a small frown. "Looks like you really did lie about beating Blackbeard. You used his name to get me to show up didn't you?"

Scorpion groans from the pain as he struggles to get up. "That's right, I made up the whole thing about Blackbeard being here. Not too shabby of a plan huh?"

Ace casually watches as Scorpion sits up. "I'm not giving up though. Not until I beat you!"

"That's enough dad!"

Everyone looks at the kids in shock to see them running from their hiding spot and towards the bounty hunter.

Scorpion widens his eyes in shock to see his two sons sliding down the hill in order to reach their father. "Dip, Chip?! What are you two doing here?!"

Dip reaches their father first and grabs his arm. "We're here to bring you back dad! Please stop!"

Chip makes it to over to them with tears in his eyes. "You don't need to fight the world's greatest battle!"

Scorpion recalls the night before he left them, so that he can prove to his sons that they can dream big even no matter what. He softly smiles at his sons as he pats both of their heads. "Don't be silly. I'm the world's greatest bounty hunter. I've fought epic battles from Double Barrel Danny to Hellbattler Luther and they all begged for their lives."

"Or so you plan right?" Chip says with his father flinching at the truth.

Scorpion sighs in defeat as he lowers his head. "You found me out huh? That's right, I'm a terrible liar and a terrible father."

The others look over the edge of the dune silently as Scorpion's lips move into a smile. "But, there's one thing that is true! Even the most insignificant person can challenge one of this world's toughest if he tries hard enough! That's what I want to show you. That men need to have dreams in their hearts. Ones that you won't give up on. Because then you know that you've had a life worth living."

The boys widen their eyes at the explanation as he takes his hands off his sons heads. "But, there's no way to show that without putting my life on the line."

He forces himself to stand up. "As long as you keep standing, you'll always find a way to fulfill your dreams. Now, watch your father's unconquerable spirit!"

The boys watch in shock as their father starts walking up the wall of the dune in Ace's direction. He stops halfway up the slope then calls out to his bird. "Popo, the bazooka!"

Popo quickly brings him the bazooka then runs towards the group to avoid the line of fire.

Scorpion takes the bazooka in his hands and aims it at Ace. "This is the end Fire Fist!"

He lights the new ignition rope that's attached to the bazooka up just before Dip and Chip cling to their father from behind.

"Stop dad!" Chip says as he starts tearing up.

Scorpion looks down at his boys in shock. "Boys?!"

Dip holds onto his father tighter in hopes to reason with his dad. "Please stop! We won't give up on our dreams!"

Chip nods as he keeps a hold of his dad's overalls. "I'm sorry for doubting you! Please, we don't want you to lose you!"

"We love you dad!" Both brothers say simultaneously.

Scorpion can only stay stoic for a moment before he drops the bazooka and turns around to hug his boys. "I love you too!"

The others watch in shock as the bazooka somersaults down the dune and fires straight up to the tall rock next to it. The shot blows up the side of the rock and causes the debris to fall towards Scorpion and his sons.

Rose picks the family up with her wind and starts bringing them towards them, but the rocks are falling too quickly for them to completely avoid it. Luffy got ready to act, but Ace was faster and blasted the rocks with his fire fist. He manages to destroy not only the debris that was about to hit the family but also the whole rock behind him.

The family stares at the burnt rock in awe while Rose gently sets them down near the others.

Scorpion quickly snaps out of it and kneels in front of his sons. "Are you two ok?!"

The boys quickly nod before they tackle their father in a hug.

Scorpion tears up at the affection before he wraps his arms around his boys. "Thank you for coming to get me… What do you say we go home?"

"Yea…" The boys quickly nod as they refuse to let go.

The rest of the group grins at the touching moment when Scorpion leaves the embrace and turns to Ace. "Sorry about luring you out like this. I can give you some real information about where Blackbeard can be to make it up to you."

Ace widens his eyes at this before he widely smiles at him. "That would be great!"

"The last I heard he's heading out west. I'm not sure what he's planning to do there though."

"This is still really helpful. Thank you very much."

"No problem." Scorpion gives him a small smile before he looks down at his kids. "Let's go home boys."

The boys quickly nod, but before they head out Chopper runs up to them. "Wait, we need to take a look at your injuries Scorpion! Come with me!"

Chopper leads him to a spot where he can get to work on healing the bounty hunter while the others relax.

Rose looks at Ace softly for a moment before looking at his watermelon colored bag. *Today really is the last day he's here…*

She quietly sighs to herself but stops when she sees Ace and Luffy happily chatting away. She uses the photo opportunity to her advantage as she grabs her camera and sneaks a picture of the two brothers. She grins in satisfaction as she joins the others in waiting for Chopper to finish treating Scorpion's injuries.

It was nearly sunset when Chopper finished treating Scorpion's injuries and the group has bid farewell to Scorpion's family. Now that Ace has learned that Blackbeard wasn't in Yuba, he decided that it was time for him to say his goodbyes as well.

"Are you really leaving Ace?" Chopper asks as he and the others watch Ace finish preparing to leave.

Ace nods with small smile as he flings his bag over his shoulder. "Yea, since Blackbeard's not in Yuba I have no reason to be here. Following Scorpion's lead will be my best bet in finding him."

He digs into his pocket and tosses something to his brother. Luffy catches the object in his hands then looks to see that it's a folded piece of paper.

"Always hang on to that Luffy." Ace says with his little brother looking at it in confusion.

"Huh? It's just a scrap of paper."

"That 'scrap of paper' will bring you and me together again someday."

Rose softly frowns at the paper, but says nothing as she watches Luffy stare at it.

He unfolds it to see that it's completely blank. "This thing can bring us back together?"

"Yup, so keep it close."

"Ok."

Ace grins in satisfaction before he bows to the others. "It's natural for a big brother to worry about his little brother. He can be a lot to handle, but please take good care of him."

"Of course." The rest of Luffy's crew bows back to him.

When Ace straightens up, he looks at Luffy with a serious look on his face. "Luffy, the next time we meet we'll both be top pirates."

Luffy smile stretches across his face as he nods. "Yeah, I'll see you at the top."

Ace softly grins at him when the group hears the sound of loud noise from above. They look up to search for the source to see that it's the sound of a flock of white birds flying over them.

When Luffy turns his attention away from the birds, he widens his eyes to see that Ace vanished. "Huh? Where did he go?"

The others follow his gaze to see that the Whitebeard pirate has completely disappeared.

"Looks like he left." Zoro says with a grin.

Sanji smiles at the departure while he takes a cigarette and lighter from his pocket. "So that was Fire Fist Ace huh?"

Luffy looks down at the piece of paper in his hand then puts it in his pocket. "Yea."

Usopp quirks an eyebrow at his captain's quiet answer. "You ok Luffy?"

Luffy nods with a large smile. "Yea, like Ace said we'll see each other again. I'm sure of it."

The group pauses when they feel a cold breeze, and turns to see Rose staring at the spot Ace was standing at with her hood and unruly bangs hiding her sadness.

Luffy quickly grins at the cold wind without seeing her facial expression. "Awesome, you made cold wind again!"

Rose cancels out the breeze then turns to the others with a smile. "Oh, I did?"

"Yea, what made it cold?"

"Not telling."

Luffy widens his eyes at her refusal to answer him. "What?! You shouldn't hide that from your captain!"

Rose groans at his stubbornness and scowls at him. "I'm not joining you!"

"I refuse your refusal!"

"And I-"

Nami cuts her off by whacking both her and Luffy on the head. "We're not going through this again! Until we reach Yuba I don't want to hear another word about this, got it?!"

The pair quickly nods, in order to avoid Nami's wrath, as the crew goes back on their journey to Yuba to make up for lost time.

Meanwhile, Ace manages to travel about a mile away from where his brother was before he goes into his bag for his canteen. When he looks inside, he stops when he sees a piece of paper inside. He grabs it and widens his eyes when he sees notes on Blackbeard's power and some of his crew mates made on both sides, except at the bottom back of it where a note is written.

Hey Ace,

Here's everything I know about Blackbeard's power just in case something slipped. This also has some information I picked up about his crew mates. You never know if you need it right?

Anyway, good luck going after Blackbeard and thanks again for the training. If we ever meet again after you win then let's have a sparring match. I promise to give you a good fight the next time around! You have to keep your promise though and be careful! If I find out that you lost then I'll have to consider kicking your butt!

Until either time comes,

Rose

Ace sweat drops at the small, poorly made, drawing of a hand showing the peace sign next to her name. *She's just as weird as Luffy… Still, these notes are really impressive. Is she that worried about me losing?*

He looks over the notes with curiosity in his eyes as he wonders why she's so serious in helping him until he remembers her telling him one of the reasons why she's helping him. *"Losing you would break Luffy's heart, and that's the last thing we both want."*

Ace softly grins at the memory before he puts the paper back in his bag. *If she cares about Luffy this much then maybe he does have a chance with her. Good luck Lu.*

He slings the bag over his shoulder then continues his journey with his cherished memories of his time with Luffy and his crew keeping him company along the way.

TO BE CONTINUED